West and East
by The World of My Creation
Summary: Modern N&S. Maggie Hale lives in New York until her dad decides to move across the country and settle in Los Angeles. How will she fit into her new high school, especially when half the girls hate her for snagging the lead in the musical? ON HIATUS
1. Graduations and Goodbyes

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South," Elizabeth Gaskell does. The song mentioned is "Secret" by Maroon 5, they own the rights not me. "The New Yorker" is not owned by me either. Anything else in here belongs to their respective owners.**

**A/N: Okay, so I couldn't resist the urge to publish this even though I still haven't finished "Thornton & Margaret" but I really wanted to. So tell me what you think. **

Chapter 1: Graduations and Goodbyes

Maggie lay on her bed; her hair was wet and fanned out around her head like a halo. She was wearing her big yoga pants and her small green t-shirt that pictured Bambi and read: "Eat your greens." She had _Pride and Prejudice_ open to the part where Darcy proposes to Elizabeth for the first time, but her eyes were closed, trying to see the BBC's version of that scene in her head. Colin Firth was her favorite Mr. Darcy, and she smiled as the scene played out in her mind's eye.

"Mags! Why are you still in that? Where's your dress? And why haven't you finished packing?" Edith bombarded her with questions as she came barging into Maggie's room. Maggie looked up at her cousin, who had her make-up pouch in her hands, quite ready to go but sans heels and make-up. Edith's hair was tied up in an elegant bun, and she looked pretty even without makeup.

Margaret "Maggie/Mags" Hale had been living with her mom's family, the Shaw's, for the past five years. Her parents, who were currently living in their small family home located in Lakeside, New York, had sent her to live with the Shaw's elegant house in New York, New York. Her aunt and uncle, Gerard and Marianne Shaw, had offered to pay for Maggie's tuition to York Prep, a private school not far from their home that Edith attended. It had grades sixth to twelfth, and who were Maggie's parent's to argue with such an offer? They knew that they could not afford to send her to such a school, and their local public schools were not the best of schools. Maggie's family wasn't poor, her father was a math teacher at their local community college, and her mother was a good old housewife; but Gerard Shaw owned a fair share of stocks in "The New Yorker" and was much better off in life. Thus, at the ripe age of eleven, Maggie packed her things and moved in with her aunt, uncle and cousin. It was for the best, her parents had told her.

Edith was two years older than her, but they got along just fine, which made this transition much easier for Margaret, who only had an older brother, Frederick, who had just signed up for the Marines and she hadn't seen in a year. They became the best of friends and did everything together. Even so, they had their differences. Edith preferred to go into Nordstrom to find a cute summer dress while Maggie preferred to walk into Borders to find a good summer read. Edith liked her steak well done; Maggie was a vegetarian. Edith loved coffee; Maggie enjoyed her tea. Edith was blonde; she was a brunette. Edith studied French; Maggie was a Spanish wiz. Edith played the piano; Maggie was more of a drama and dance person. Most times they managed to get over their differences and have fun. Not so much today.

"For your information, I'm almost done packing, I just have to throw in a few more outfits. And I'm waiting for my hair to dry before I put on my dress, which is hanging… over there," Maggie pointed lazily to a general area of her room.

"There's such a thing called a blow dryer? I really wish you could look more excited about wearing that dress. You looked really nice in it the other day, Besides, do it for me will you?" Edith put on a face that reminded Maggie of Puss in Boots from Shrek.

"_Como puedo decir que no cuando pones esa cara?*_" Maggie said in her perfect Spanish accent. Edith smiled as she saw her cousin get up from the bed and walk into the bathroom that connected their rooms where the blow dryer could then be heard. "You owe me!"

"I'll just do your makeup and we'll be even," Edith said as she followed her cousin into the bathroom and proceeded to apply her makeup like a pro, making funny faces the whole time, squinting her eyes and pouting her lips. Maggie laughed and applied mousse to her curly hair to make the curls hold, she loved her hair. She then made her way into her room and put on her green dress, "It brings out you eyes," Edith had said when they went shopping the day before. She then allowed Edith to do her makeup. Once Edith was done Maggie peered at herself in their full-length mirror that they had in the bathroom. Maggie had to admit, she looked good. The green, strapless, just above the knees dress with the black bow around her middle looked good on her. It hugged her in all the right places and showed off her legs, her best feature she thought.

"We look awesome!" Edith said, as she stood next to Maggie and admired their looks in the mirror. Edith grabbed her graduation gown and cap, while Maggie grabbed both their clutches and they went downstairs where Edith's parents were already waiting to take them to the graduation ceremony of the York Prep class of 2008.

The ceremony went well, her Aunt dabbing at her eyes when "Edith Shaw" was read and Edith went up to accept her diploma. The Shaw's sat with the Lennox's and so Henry had found a seat next to Maggie.

"So you going tonight?" he had asked, Maggie nodded.

~oOo~

The music was blaring, the bodies were sweating, and Maggie needed to get out of the room before she suffocated.

It was Edith's graduation party, and she had no other choice but to attend. It wasn't that she hadn't wanted to go, she loved her cousin like she was her sister, but the prospect of high-schoolers dancing the night away with little adult supervision wasn't as appealing as sitting down and enjoying a good book with a cold cup of raspberry iced tea. But her cousin had easily convinced Maggie with her smiles and charm. Edith was beauty personified, 5'3'', blond, slim, petite, and smart; she was every high school girl's envy. Not that Maggie envied her, because she didn't. She wasn't blind, Edith was beautiful, but Maggie just didn't feel the need to feed her cousin's considerable ego any more than it was by telling her that. Besides, Maggie wasn't too bad looking; you could say she was pretty, in a different way. She was 5'5'' with brown curly hair and green eyes that stood out from beneath her dark eyelashes. Her mouth was wide, but with one soft curve of naturally pink that stood out from her ivory skin. She was slim, but she had curves. And when she smiled, dimples appeared on her cheeks, giving her an almost child-like appearance. Most people just failed to notice her when Edith was around.

Maggie found an empty balcony—complete with a comfortable looking chair, which she immediately claimed as her own—that was far enough from the dance floor so that the music was barely audible. She opened the cold water bottle in her hand and chugged down about half its contents.

"Ah," she sighed in relief. She looked at her phone, 1:28. It was late, and she couldn't wait to get home. The party had been fun at first, Maggie had to admit; she had danced with a few of her friends and a few other guys she knew from her classes. But she had decided to ditch the dance floor after the guy she was dancing with tried to feel her up. Someone had obviously spiked the drinks, Edith knew better than to provide the alcohol. Maggie was as clean as they came, no alcohol, no drugs, and no sex. Cursing she tried to avoid, sometimes she couldn't help it though. She thought all those thing were too passé, so when that happened, she had shoved the guy away, cursed him, grabbed a closed water bottle and headed to find a peaceful place to pass the rest of the evening away from drunk teenagers.

"Hey there loner."

Maggie looked up to find Henry Lennox smiling his goofy smile at the entrance to the balcony. She simply nodded to acknowledge his presence, she was tired and in no mood to keep up a conversation at the moment, especially with Henry. He was her friend, after all, but lately he had become more of an annoying shadow. Usually she tolerated him enough, he was smart and practical, making up for his lack of good looks, the ugly duckling of the family, per say. Henry's ambition was to get into Harvard, later into their law school. He wanted to be a lawyer, maybe even a Supreme Court Justice some day; and he certainly had the brain for it. Henry was Charles Lennox's younger brother of one year. Charles Lennox was Edith's long time sweetheart, three years in fact. He was the captain of the soccer team, complete with stunning athletic body and brains, but he was planning on joining the army reserves. Charles and Edith planned on keeping a long distance relationship, Charles in the army, Edith attending NYU**. That's how Maggie had met Henry. They had been forced to double date when Edith and Charles' relationship was budding, but later on were released from that uncomfortable duty when Aunt Shaw, Edith's mom, had given her approval for Charles and Edith to go steady. Maggie and Henry had some of the same classes at her school, and they were friends. Not best friends, no, but close enough.

"So why are you out here, and not in there?" Henry asked, coming over and taking Maggie's water bottle before opening it and drinking some, his lips on the bottle. This annoyed Maggie, she hated it when people she wasn't comfortable with did that. She shared drinks with her girlfriends, with guys it was a different story.

"You can have it," Maggie said when Henry offered her back her own water bottle. He shrugged.

"Are you gonna' answer my question?" he said, in a voice that sounded too flirty for Maggie's taste.

"I got tired, it's late, and I want to go home and rest," Maggie shrugged. It was true, maybe not the whole truth, but good enough. She didn't want to tell Henry about some guy copping a feel in there.

"I could drive you home if you want, Charles and I brought separate cars today," Henry offered. Although Maggie would much rather drag Edith along, she knew that either way Henry would have been driving her home while Charles would drive Edith home. A short drive with Henry wouldn't be too bad, no matter how annoyed she was.

"Sure, that'll be great. Let me just grab my coat and purse, tell Edith, and I'll meet you out there in fifteen,' Maggie said as cheerfully as she could. Henry smiled and opened his mouth to say something but Maggie quickly rushed past him to find her things, but she could almost swear that he said she looked nice today. With her things in tow she managed to find her cousin with her arms wrapped around her boyfriend and dancing in a way that Maggie was sure her Aunt would not approve of.

"Henry's taking me home!" Maggie had to practically yell into her cousin's ear. Edith simply smiled and waved her away. Maggie shrugged and made her way outside where she found Henry sitting in his car, a grey Toyota Camry, relatively new, a hand-me-down from Charles who had gotten a new car in his senior year. He was scrolling through his iPod playlists, and when Margaret got into the car she could hear Maroon 5's "Secret" playing softly. She started nodding her head to the catchy intro, if it was one thing she loved, it was Maroon 5.

"I take it you like the music?" Henry said, trying to start up a conversation.

_Some conversation, no contemplation, hit the road…_

"Yeah,' Maggie said ignoring him and looking out the window. She suspected that he only put Maroon 5 on his iPod because she had mentioned it to him that Maroon 5 was one of her favorite bands. It was things like that that really bothered her about him, she ignored it most of the time though.

_Come over please jump out of my seat…_

Henry looked over at her, but she didn't notice. He had always admired her, he even thought her prettier than Edith. They were friends, but he wanted to be more than that. Especially now that she was going back home for the summer.

_I know I don't know you, but I want you so bad…_

Maggie was lip-synching with the song; she never dared to actually sing along out loud in front of other people. She wasn't really paying attention to the lyrics which she had memorized; her mind was more occupied with thinking about her journey back to her real house the next day. She was excited, she hadn't seen her parents since Easter break when they visited her for a week.

_Everyone has a secret, oh can they keep it? Oh no they can't…_

"Hey Margaret," Henry began, calling her by her full name, like he usually did. She looked over at him; that was another thing she didn't like, when he called her Margaret. It wasn't that she didn't like her name, but it sounded too formal and she preferred to go by Maggie, or Mags, like Edith called her. They had pulled up to her Aunt's house on Lexington Avenue, her "house" and Maggie had her hand on the door handle, ready to get out of the car.

_I'm driving fast now, don't think I know how to go slow…_

"I just wanted to say that I'm really going to miss you, when you go," Henry said timidly, turning the music down.

"It's just for the summer, I'm coming back next year, like always," Maggie said a little irritated, she really just wanted to get out of the car and up to her room, take a hot shower and get into bed. She didn't want to be sitting here in the car with Henry, talking about his feelings.

"I know, but I just really wanted to hang out over the summer, you know?"

"Not really. Listen, Henry, its cool that you want to hang out with me, but the summer is really the only time I get to see my parents. I spend practically the whole year here in New York City, sometimes it's just relaxing to go back to Lakeside for a while, away from the city."

"What's it like there, in Lakeside?"

"What do you mean?"

"What do you do there, everyday. Here you go shopping with Edith, and you walk to Central Park; but what do you do there?"

"Um… I go to Lake Ontario almost every day, ride my bike there, and sometimes I swim, or I just sit there and read. It's really pretty there. Some days I just stay home with my mom and dad, hanging out, not doing much," Maggie said, a little confused as to why he was asking her these things. They had never really talked about Lakeside, not until recently that is.

"Sounds like heaven, a place in a poem."

"Oh c'mon Henry, it's just my house. And I'm sure that any place sounds like heaven compared to the bustle of city life. It's not that great."

"But you like going there."

"It's home, who doesn't like going home," Maggie said with finality. He shrugged. "Look, thanks for the ride. You coming to the airport tomorrow?"

"Yeah I think so," Henry said, just as Maggie was opening the door to the car. "Wait!"

Maggie turned as Henry grabbed her arm, and was met with his lips on hers. She was shocked; her eyes wide open as she saw Henry with his eyes closed pressed against her face. He could feel his tongue rubbing against her lips, which she had immediately pressed together, asking for admittance into her mouth. She was disgusted, not really that it was Henry, but at his audacity for doing such a thing. She shoved him away.

"Fuck off!" she said, fuming with anger, the back of her hand wiping her mouth.

"What was that for?" Henry said; she had pushed him away with such force that his head had almost hit his window.

"What do you mean? You fucking kissed me! Out of nowhere!" Maggie was speaking loudly, trying her best not to yell at him, curse words coming off her tongue.

"I thought you wanted me to," Henry said lamely.

"When have I ever hinted that I wanted you to?" Maggie seethed inwardly.

"I… Margaret, I've liked you for a very long time, I thought you'd noticed it by now. I mean, how long have we known each other? We frickin' double dated with Charles and Edith! That could have been us!" he said like it was something he said to himself everyday.

"What?!" Maggie was angry now. "We're friends, Henry, _friends_."

"Did you ever think that maybe I wanted to be more than that?" she slapped him for that, because he needed to bring him back to his senses. It was his turn to look shocked.

"No Henry. Friends don't go out with each other. It doesn't work like that," she opened the door, got out, and slammed it shut. She ran into her Aunt's house without looking back.

~oOo~

Maggie was sitting in her bathtub, her fingers were getting wrinkly, but she didn't care. It had been a long day. She had spent most of her morning packing, trying her best to remember everything, including her dog-eared copy of _Pride and Prejudice_, which she had decided to open and read, despite her lack of time. She had just gotten to the best part when Edith had found her. Things had been great then, but then they went to the party. And then Henry drove her home. And then he kissed her.

Maggie ran a hand through her damp hair. Why did he have to go and ruin a perfectly normal friendship? _"I've liked you for a very long time. I thought you'd noticed it by now."_ His words echoed in her head. She racked her memory for a sign that would prove him right, they had gone to the movies, just the two of them, countless times. They had worked and studied together for classes they shared. He had bought her expensive gifts for her birthday, Christmas, Valentine's Day. In fact, now that she though about it, he had acted like a boyfriend to her almost all the time. How could she have let him?

She tried to push all thoughts from her head as she lay in bed. She focused on her home in Lakeside, her impending flight home, and then she wondered whether Henry would be there to see her off the next day. She groaned, she just couldn't stop thinking about Henry; he had been her first kiss. This made her mad, so she flicked on the lights and opened up _Pride and Prejudice_. Half an hour later, Maggie was fast asleep.

~oOo~

"Call me as soon as you get there!" Edith was hugging Maggie so hard it was hard to breathe.

"I will, I promise," Maggie said as she hugged the rest of her family at the airport.

"Send my love to your mother," her aunt said. Maggie nodded. Her uncle pinched her cheek. Charles gave her a high-five, they had a weird relationship like that, and Henry was a no show. Maggie felt bad about that; she had hoped they could fix their friendship before she left for the summer. She said her last goodbyes and went to sit in the gate waiting room for her flight to depart.

She boarded the plane and took a seat, where she dozed off until her plane landed. She stretched, grabbed her carry-on and made her way to baggage claim. As she stepped into the bright light of the street, she heard her name.

"Maggie darling!" Maggie turned and saw her dad.

It was good to be home.

**A/N: So how was that? Please REVIEW! Should I keep this going? And don't worry, for those of you who read "Thornton & Margaret" I will still be updating it on a weekly basis.**

**Just to explain the stuff up there some of you might not know.**

*** How could I say no when you put on a face like that? (Spanish is actually my native tongue)**

****New York University**

**Oh, and I don't live in New York, I just googled a few things, like York Prep and Lakeside, so if there are any discrepancies sorry about them.**

**REVIEW please!**


	2. Maggie Come Home

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South," Elizabeth Gaskell does. And the song mentioned here is "Simple Kind of Lovely" by Kara's Flowers (Maroon 5 before they became Maroon 5). Yea, and anything you recognize is obviously not mine.**

**A/N: So here's the next chapter, sorry to say that you'll have to wait for John until the next chapter, I'll make sure to make it extra long. Have fun!**

Chapter 2: Maggie Come Home

"Dad!" Maggie ran into her father's outstretched arms.

"How was the flight?" Richard Hale asked his daughter as he held her at an arm's length, taking in her appearance. It was as if she grew 5 inches every time he saw her.

"I fell asleep," Maggie shrugged as she helped her dad put her luggage in the trunk of his Toyota hybrid, a car he had bought after Maggie insisted that they should be more conscious about the environment. She hopped into the front seat as her dad drove off from the airport and onto the freeway that would take them home. She plugged in her iPod and put The Beatles on, something both she and her dad agreed on. Conversation was limited because her dad didn't want to talk without her mother. Besides, Maggie was having too much fun watching out for landmarks, which meant she was one minute closer to her house. She didn't even notice that her dad looked a bit more tired than he usually did, his hair thinner.

Finally, from behind the copious amounts of trees, she saw her two-story house, her haven away from the city. Her dad had barely parked the car when Maggie opened the door and ran up the front steps.

"Home at last!" Maggie yelled as she breathed in the clean air.

"Yeah just go ahead in while I handle your fifty suitcases," her dad yelled after her sarcastically.

"Gee thanks dad," Maggie rolled her eyes as she helped her dad. "I'm just glad to be home."

"Margaret!" her mother's voice screeched from the porch. Maggie went up to her and her mom hugged her tight, planting a big wet one on each cheek. "How was your flight? Oh, just come inside before the bugs do and tell me all about it."

The family walked into the house and her dad helped Maggie get her suitcases into her room. Her parents let her settle in a bit before they expected her to be down for an early supper. It was just as she had left it. Maggie loved this room; or rather she liked the access she had to their balcony. She opened the door to the balcony and stepped into the warm summer sun. She smiled as she caught sight of the lake in the far distance, she would be spending a lot of time there this summer.

She went back inside and unpacked her t-shirt collection into her closet and most importantly of all, she unpacked the new books she had brought along this time. Every time she came home she was sure to bring back at least twenty novels with her, some classics and some that she bought at the bookstore because they looked interesting, so much for judging a book by its cover. This time her collection ranged from _The Scarlet Letter_ and _The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn_, books on her summer reading list from school, to the whole _Twilight_ series that Edith had insisted she read. Maggie was more of a Harry Potter fan, vampires just weren't exactly her cup of tea. She probably wasn't going to read them, but she had packed them just so that Edith wouldn't bug her about it anymore. She didn't care how hot Edward Cullen looked in the movie, he would always be Cedric Diggory to Maggie. She struggled to find a place for the books on her already overflowing bookshelf, and she made a mental note to ask her dad for a new one. He always joked that she had a small library in her room, but she said she would be happy the day she could actually have enough books to fill up a room the way people had in the "old days" as she referred to the 19th century.

Running a brush through her hair and changing into a shirt that looked more "dressy" Maggie went downstairs to find her parents. Her mom was in the kitchen cooking up a storm, while her dad was nowhere to be seen. Maggie sat at the island in the middle of the kitchen and watched her mother cooking something, which looked like homemade veggie burgers. "Need any help?"

"No dear, I'm fine, or you could go find your dad and tell him that dinner is ready."

"Will do," Maggie saluted her mom's back as she hopped off the stool and ran to find her dad. She found him in his study, massaging his temples and looking through some letters on his desk. "Dinner's ready."

He looked up, "I'll be there in a sec."

Maggie returned to the kitchen to find three veggie burgers ready to eat, complete with a side of raw carrots and broccoli, on the table and a large pitcher of iced tea on the table. Her stomach grumbled, she hadn't eaten anything for a while, having slept through the serving of airplane food. "This looks delicious."

"Thanks hun, did you find your dad?" her mom asked her.

"Here I am," her dad said as popped into the room and took a seat.

"Great, let's dig in," Maggie said taking a huge bite of her burger. There was a few minutes silence while everyone enjoyed their food. Maggie took the time to observe her parents.

~oOo~

Martha Hale had once been beautiful, a sort of Edith if you will. She had been her school's prom queen and it girl. Her mother could not boast of having the brains to go with the beauty, but she managed to get through high school and into a beauty school she eventually dropped out of. She had tried modeling and then dancing, but she wasn't dedicated enough to either to have any real success. People were surprised when they heard she had married Richard Hale, the salutatorian of her graduating class.

Richard Hale wasn't exactly the best-looking guy at school, he had the kind of handsomeness that grew on you, it wasn't that kind of holy-shit-this-guy-is-hot kind of good looks. After high school he had gone off to attend NYU, full ride, majoring in Mathematics, and had returned to their town to teach at the local community college.

Somehow the two found each other, fell in love, and married, all within a year. Many said that Martha had just gotten tired of waiting around for something to happen, but she insisted that she was in love. Richard was absolutely smitten with her. Two years after their marriage Frederick Hale was born, and Martha obsessed with getting her "figure" back, swearing to never get pregnant again. So when she got pregnant with Maggie, she wasn't the happiest camper. She had loved having a son, and thought that there could never be a better a child. The only thing that consoled her was that Maggie was a girl, or in her eyes, a doll she could dress up and parade around. But Maggie had not been so complying.

At first Maggie didn't know any better and let her mom dress her up in cute dresses with stockings, her look completed with bangs and a bow in her curly brown hair. But when she had found the love of books, her mom had a field day. No matter how much she poked and bribed, Maggie would much rather sit and read the latest _Harry Potter_ book than go shopping with her mom. She found that sometimes jeans were more comfortable to wear than dresses, which involved having to make sure that nothing could be seen when sitting cross-legged on a blanket in the park. She wanted her room painted pistachio green, not dusty pink.

It was around this time that Maggie had been sent to live with her aunt and uncle. And so out of the nagging influence of her mom, and under the sisterly guidance of her cousin, Maggie had managed to regain a kind of "girliness" to herself. So she still wore skinny jeans, but she had the Uggs or flats to go with them. Not to mention the cute half trench coat they wore to school when it rained or snowed, a common occurrence in New York. Plus, she had let her hair grow out a bit, thick locks that almost reached her butt.

~oOo~

"So how is your aunt?" her mom questioned. Maggie knew where this was going. Her mom had always envied her aunt's more comfortable lifestyle, being able to buy the latest fashion without having to worry about the bills. Marianne had married more for money than love, while Martha had married for love, not money. As it was, the sisters envied what they did not have. Maggie wondered what it would be like if they reversed roles.

"Fine. She's gonna miss Edith though," Maggie said noncommittally.

"So Edith's living on campus? Isn't that a little expensive?"

"Yeah I suppose it is, but Edith wanted the experience, so they let her go ahead with it."

"I see. And is she still going out with that boy?"

"He's hardly a boy anymore. And yes, she's still dating Charles Lennox."

"Where did you say they are going for the summer?"

"They will spend their time traveling Europe, Edith had a particular wish to visit France," Maggie said mechanically, she didn't know how often she had repeated this to her mom over the phone.

"Sounds like fun, didn't you want to go?"

"Not really, I think that I would prefer to visit Mexico, because then at least I'll know the language. I'm not sure if _Adonde esta el bano?*_ will get me anywhere in France," Maggie smiled at her own little joke. Although she did want to visit the England one day, to see all the places where Jane Austen wrote about and lived.

"But France has so much fashion, maybe you could pick up a few tips," her mom looked her over.

"Meh," Maggie said, taking a large gulp of her cold iced tea.

~oOo~

Maggie plopped down on her bed, her laptop open out in front of her. She signed into her Facebook, _What's on your mind?_ **Glad to be home!** She hit the submit button and saw that she had a ten notifications. Most were just some of her senior friends who had posted their graduation pictures up, a friend request, and some new quiz. She ignored these when she saw that Edith had also sent her a message. She opened the message: **AIM at 9 pm today. Be there!** Maggie looked at the time in the corner of her screen, 9:04. She signed out of Facebook and into her AIM.

**RediEdi: Mags!**

**MaggicalMaggs: Edi!**

**RedEdi: How's home?**

**MaggicalMaggs: Great. I forgot how much I missed this place.**

**RediEdi: Are you gonna ride your bike to the lake tomorrow and read a book on the shore?**

**MaggicalMaggs: You read my mind. :]**

**RediEdi: You should get your nose out of your books and back into reality.**

**MaggicalMaggs: I think I like living in books better. Mr. Darcy exists there you know.**

**RediEdi: Well if you stopped thinking of Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy, maybe you wouldn't be so blind with your own Mr. Darcy.**

**MaggicalMaggs: My own Mr. Darcy? I doubt that I'll find him anytime soon.**

**RediEdi: But you already have.**

**MaggicalMaggs: Really? *****raises eyebrow*******

**RediEdi: Did he ask you out yet?**

**MaggicalMaggs: Am I allowed to know who this Mr. Darcy that is supposed to have asked me out is?**

**RediEdi: Henry of course.**

**MaggicalMaggs: wtf?**

**RediEdi: He did, didn't he? I knew it!**

**MaggicalMaggs: WTF?!**

**RediEdi: Oh come on, you can tell me.**

**MaggicalMaggs: Henry and I aren't going out. We're friends, or at least I still think we are.**

**RediEdi: I thought you liked him!**

**MaggicalMaggs: Where did you get that idea? You're just like Henry! Don't assume! You know what they say…**

**RediEdi: Ok ok, sorry, geez. So you don't like him? Not one bit?**

**MaggicalMaggs: As a friend, no more than that.**

**RediEdi: Shit, I messed up.**

**MaggicalMaggs: Did you tell him I liked him?**

**RediEdi: Um… so how's your mom? (avoiding question)**

**MaggicalMaggs: Edi!!! Why would you do that?**

**RediEdi: Sorry. But was it that bad?**

**MaggicalMaggs has signed out and will receive your messages when she logs in.**

Maggie was angry, and she just couldn't talk to her cousin right now. How could Edith have done something like that? But then again Edith had tried to hook Maggie up with a ton of guys as school, all of which Maggie duly rejected after each first date. She had really been focused on school and preferred to read about Mr. Darcy, none of which the boys at school were or came close to.

~oOo~

Maggie passed the rest of her first month home between the balcony, reading through her pile of books, to the lake, where she swam sometimes and found her old elementary school friend. They caught up on old times as they usually did every summer.

"So Maggie, how hot are the guys in the city?" Alexis Singleton asked her as they lay on the shore of the lake listening to music, watching some guys looking at them out of the corners of their eyes. Alexis was the local beauty, but now with Maggie here, she had some competition, a competition Maggie was oblivious to.

_Leaning on a tree trunk, thinking all the same junk. Falling in and out of a dream._

"They're okay, I guess. Nothing special,' Maggie said, her thoughts immediately flying back to Henry Lennox. She had managed to talk with Edith again, completely avoiding the subject of Henry. And she hadn't talked to Henry either for that matter. She hadn't even thought about him too, she had been too caught up in being home and relaxing.

_Back and forth I'm swaying, I'm contemplating staying, laying and decaying when I know I must leave._

"Really? But I mean there must be some pretty hot guys at your school, plus it doesn't hurt that they're rich, a private school like yours."

_Where do I aim when I shoot the breeze?_

"My cousin dates the hottest guy there. And what difference does it make if they're trust fund babies when they can't even hold an intelligent conversation, let alone keep their eyes on your face."

_How do I calm myself at times like these?_

"You say that now, but I'm sure one day you'll fall for one of your 'trust fund babies' as you call them."

_I need a simple kind of lovely and the thought is just a novelty._

"Not a chance. I prefer to just ignore the hot guys most of the time and make friends with the smart ones."

"Whatever you say, Maggs. As for me, that guy over there has been looking over here for the past ten minutes, I say we make the first moves," and with that Alexis stood up and got her bike.

"Fine, wait up Lexi!" Maggie called after her friend. She could try to make friends, it was worth a try.

~oOo~

Maggie got home a little later than usual that day. She and Lexis had let the guys buy them ice-cream, Maggie was no one to pass up an offer like that. They were pretty chill guys, both going into their senior year at the local high school. They had agreed to hang out more often, Maggie doing it more for the sake of her friend who had a crush on one of them but didn't have the courage to talk to him. For a cute girl, Lexis was shy when she actually liked a guy, the outgoing mask she pulled on all other guys completely dissolving.

"So where have you been? It's late, and you'll catch something at the lake, with all these mosquitoes and this humid air. I don't know how you can stand being out there," her mother was sitting on the couch, fanning herself despite the air conditioner, which was on full blast.

"Just hanging out with Lexis, we got carried away and didn't notice the time," Maggie shrugged, ignoring the other half of her mom's questions. She never understood why her mom had such a decided grudge against the place that Maggie considered her paradise. The bugs weren't that bad if you wore bug spray, and the heat was just a good excuse to go swimming.

"Yeah, well I'd appreciate it if you at least called and said you were coming home late," her mom said, not a hint of worry in her voice, she sounded bored.

"I'll try to remember that next time," Maggie said and went up to her room, where it was cool, the screen door to the balcony doing its job. She picked up "Animal Farm" and lay on her bed, prepared to read through the whole book tonight. Just as she was reading through the "Seven Commandments (7. All animals are equal)" when she heard a knock at her door and saw her dad peer in.

"Hey! What's up?" Maggie exclaimed as a form of greeting. She was closer to her dad than she was with her mom, and she noticed a look of worry on his face.

"Just checking in on you, making sure you got home okay," he said without any emotion in his voice. Yea, something was up.

"You sure?" Maggie said, putting her bookmark in her book before closing it shut. She patted the edge of her bed, inviting her dad in.

"Yeah, no worries," her dad took a seat and picked up "Animal Farm" from it's place on her bed and raising an eyebrow after reading the summary on the back.

"It's a classic," she shrugged. "I'll tell you how it is tomorrow morning."

"You really like it here, huh?"

"Nope, I love it here! I can just sit and read all day, or go swimming, like today. I enjoy this freedom, Central Park ain't got nothing on this."

"Hm. So you wouldn't want to leave this place, I'm guessing."

"Not if I could help it. But school isn't for another month or so, I'm kinda just enjoying it here while I can," Maggie said, unsure of where this conversation was heading.

"Yup, while you can. Goodnight Maggie," her dad stood up and patted her on the top of her head like she was a child. Maggie knitted her brows, while I can? She tried to ignore her dad's words while she returned to her book, but even after reading that "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others" she kept thinking about what her dad said. What did it mean? She fell asleep thinking about this, dreaming of having to leave Lakeside earlier because school had started a month earlier. It was more of a nightmare.

**A/N: Did you like it? Please REVIEW! The more reviews I get, the sooner I'll update this one, otherwise "Thornton and Margaret" gets my attention. BTW, please take my poll relating to whether John and Margaret should have a boy or girl (For "Thornton and Margaret" not this story!)**

***Where is the restroom?**


	3. Trouble in Paradise

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South," that belongs to Ms. Elizabeth Gaskell. And the songs mentioned here are "Goodnight Goodnight" and "Sweetest Goodbye" by Maroon 5. And anything else you might recognize isn't mine either.**

**A/N: Long chapter! And JT! Woohoo! And my birthday! I am now legally recognized as an adult, 18, wow, I feel old. Lot's of things to celebrate.**

**Anyway, just enjoy! **

Chapter 3: Trouble in Paradise

The next morning Maggie awoke to the smell of pancakes, and banana pancakes for that matter. Most people didn't like them, but banana pancakes really were some of her favorites, especially with peanut butter spread on them. Peanut butter or raspberry preserves. She was good with either of those.

"Buenos dias*," Maggie said as she plopped down onto a chair and looked at the giant stack of pancakes, her mouth watering.

"Good morning honey," her dad replied between mouthfuls of pancake. Her mom simply nodded, her mouth was also filled with pancakes, but she had more manners than to speak with her mouth full.

"These look delicious!" Maggie said before taking three pancakes and piling them on her plate.

"You shouldn't eat that many, you have to watch your figure dear," her mother warned her as she watched Maggie spread the top pancake with unhealthy amounts of peanut butter.

"But if I don't eat them, who will? Just think of all those starving children in Africa," Maggie said, rolling up the pancake and stuffing her mouth. It tasted like heaven, well not really, but close enough. Besides, Maggie didn't have to listen to her mom about her "figure;" no matter how much she ate, she never gained any weight. She wondered how she could have actually gotten curves when everything else seemed to go straight through her.

"What are your plans for today?" her dad questioned.

"Um… Lexis and I agreed to meet up with some friends at the lake later today. Some sort of volleyball match or what not," Maggie said smiling at the thought of volleyball. She wasn't very good at it, but she was always up for some friendly competition, it brought out the best in her. "Why do you ask?"

"No reason," he replied, returning to his pancakes. Last night's conversation returned to her, and she planned to have a nice chat with her dad before she left for the lake. Once breakfast was done with, Maggie had the honors, as she dubbed it, of cleaning up the dishes. Her mom meanwhile headed for her usual place on the couch in the living room, while her dad headed for his study.

"Can I come in?" Maggie knocked cautiously on the door to her dad's study. He usually didn't like to be disturbed when he was in there.

"Yeah, come on in," her dad said, shoving some letters that were open on his desk into the nearest drawer.

"So…" Maggie said looking around the room, not sure where to begin. Her dad looked at her and sighed. "What's wrong?"

"Maggie," her dad began, and getting up from behind his desk and he went over to her and hugged her, her head tucked beneath his chin.

"What's wrong?" Maggie asked again, her voice a little higher than usual. Her dad usually didn't act like this, she knew something was up, and she knew that she wasn't going to like what her dad said. A similar scene played out in her head.

_"Maggie darling, come here," her dad held out his arms as Maggie happily found a place on his lap, her arms wrapped around his neck._

_"I love you Daddy," the Maggie just shy of her eleventh birthday said._

_"I love you too Maggie, but listen," he said as he disengaged her arms from around his neck, looking into her green eyes with his own._

_"I'm listening," Maggie said, her eyes eager, her mouth smiling widely._

_"Tomorrow, your aunt and uncle are coming up from the city," he began, Maggie nodding innocently, "And when they go back, you are going to go with them."_

_"Like on vacation?"_

_"No Maggie, they are taking you to go live with them and your cousin Edith."_

_"Are you coming with us?"_

_"No Maggie, you have to go by yourself."_

_"For how long? And why aren't you and mommy coming?" Maggie said, tears beginning to well up in her eyes._

_"You're aunt and uncle have been kind enough to offer to pay your tuition to the private school that Edith attends. And your mommy and I have to stay here while you go to school there," her dad calmly explained._

_"But I don't want to go!" Maggie whined, tears coming down her face now._

_"Margaret Hale, you will do as I say, it is for the best. Your mother and I can't afford the kind of education your uncle is offering you. Trust us, one day you will thank us for this decision," her dad's voice changed, there was anger in it, but there was also sadness._

_"But daddy!" Maggie cried, her hands trying to desperately cling to her dad's shirt as he pushed her off his lap._

_"No buts young lady, now go up to your room and help your mom pack. I expect you to put on a happy face for your aunt and uncle when they get here," he said before going into his study and shutting the door soundly behind him, Maggie sobbing on the chair that was still warm from her dad's presence. It was the worst day of her short life._

"We have to leave Lakeside," her dad said so quietly that at first Maggie wasn't sure if he had spoken, let alone understood him properly.

"What?!" she pulled herself free of her father's arms.

"We have to leave Lakeside," he said again, running a weary hand through his graying hair.

"You're joking right?" Maggie said, trying her best to keep her voice calm. She couldn't believe the words that were coming out of her dad's mouth. She must be dreaming, she pinched herself, it hurt, this wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare.

"I wish I was, but I'm not. We cannot stay here any longer."

"But why? What's wrong with Lakeside? You love it here, I love it here."

"I'm afraid that I no longer feel comfortable teaching here anymore. They are trying to put too many restrictions on the way we teach, and I feel that it is hurting the students more than it is helping them."

"Why can't you speak with the school's superintendants then? I'm sure that if you talked to them, and made them see your point of view, then they could work something out. I don't see that as a reason to leave Lakeside completely."

"Maggie, you make it sound so simple. But it's not like that. Several other teachers and I have already spoken to them. We wrote letters, we signed petitions, but it was all in vain. They will not listen to us, and I'm afraid there is nothing left to do but leave. I already turned in my resignation, and I will not be returning to Lakeside Community College to teach next semester."

"But you can't do that!" Maggie said, tears welling up in her eyes. She didn't want to cry, she hated crying. But this was just too much.

"Maggie, I have made my decision, and there is no turning back."

"But where will we go? New York City with my aunt and uncle?" Maggie said, wiping the tears that were coming down her face.

"No."

"No? Then where?" Maggie asked incredulously, she wasn't sure of she wanted her question answered, maybe they would move to some god-forsaken town in the middle of nowhere. But then again, anywhere would be hell compared to Lakeside.

"Los Angeles."

"As in Los Angeles, California? On the other side of the fucking country?" Maggie said, tears no longer coming down her face. She hadn't meant to curse, but she hadn't expected to move that far.

"Yes. And don't use that kind of language. I didn't teach it to you."

"Sorry, but are you serious? Los Angeles," Maggie said, not really sorry. Her dad just had to be shitting her, a little early for April Fools, too.

"I have an old friend, Mr. Thomas Bell, who owns some real estate there, and he says he can rent me out a house there. As soon as the paperwork goes through here, we'll move," her dad said, as if recalling the cold hard facts hurt him as much as it hurt Maggie as she heard these words for the first time.

"Wait, paperwork here?"

"Yes, we can't afford to keep this house while paying rent in LA, it's pretty expensive there. This house has secretly been on the market for a while now, and I finally found a buyer who is willing to pay the price I'm asking for. They are in the process of signing the papers, so in about two weeks we should be all set to move."

"Two weeks? What about school? That doesn't start for another month!"

"Oh yes, you will no longer be attending York Prep. Mr. Bell also managed to attain a spot for you at the Alexander Hamilton High School Academy of Music magnet**. You can continue with your dance there and drama. They are one of the best performing magnets in the Los Angeles area. Plus, I will also be taking up the position of Calculus teacher there, they don't pay much, but it's enough to pay the bills."

"What?!" Maggie practically yelled. Quitting his job and selling the house was one thing, but taking her out of her own school without even asking her was another.

"For Pete's sake Maggie, keep your voice down. Your mother might hear," her dad urged her, walking over and closing the door to his study which was slightly ajar.

"And what difference will it make to hear what she already knows!" Maggie cursed inwardly.

"Your mother doesn't know anything about this, and I'm not sure if I want her to know yet," her dad wrung his hands nervously, he hated that he couldn't give his wife everything that she asked for in a marriage. But he tried.

"My mom doesn't know about this?!" Maggie said, if she wasn't taking this news lightly, and Maggie was a reasonable person, then she wondered how her mom would react to find out the their Lakeside house practically belonged to someone else and that they would be moving to the other side of the country in less than one month.

"No, I didn't want to tell her anything until I was sure that this whole situation was worked out perfectly. You know how she gets when there are loose ends that need to be tied up."

"True…" Maggie said, finally calming down and realizing that she was in a better position than her mom at the moment. Her mom hated being out of the loop, hence her favorite pass time was gossiping with her closest neighbor, Mrs. Singleton.

"And I really don't know how I'm going to break it to her," her dad said, looking to Maggie as if expecting her to volunteer for the job. Maggie had always played mediator between her parents as a child, but she wasn't exactly fond of that job now.

"Well you better find out how you're gonna do it, and soon," Maggie said, not falling into her dad's trap that easily. She wasn't sure if she could face her mom at the moment.

"Please, Maggie, for me. I know you aren't too happy with the situation yourself, but trust me when I say that the move is harder for me. We have been living in Lakeside all our lives, and I don't know if I can handle another discussion like this with your mother," he said, and Maggie had to give in. He looked so tired, and stressed. She knew that her dad wasn't one to act rashly, he was the kind who looked at things logically, he was a math teacher after all. And besides, her mom had always wanted to leave Lakeside for one reason or another, maybe she would actually be happy hearing this.

"Fine, but you owe me, and big time. Let's just say that a new bookshelf wouldn't hurt right about now," Maggie agreed.

"Thanks Maggie, I'll just have it sent to your new room in LA," Maggie allowed him to hug her, wincing at the mention of LA.

"Just give me two days," she replied before walking out of the study and leaving her dad to think. She couldn't talk to her mom just yet, no, not while her wounds were still raw. She would take it slowly.

~oOo~

"Yo Mags! Watch out!" Lexis yelled as Maggie snapped out of her trance just in time to dive and send the volleyball over the net, scoring them another point and winning the game. "I almost thought you wouldn't get that one. You've been out of it all game, care to tell me what's up?"

"Let's just say that my life is changing dramatically right now, and I'm not even sure if it's for the best," Maggie said, as they sat down on the grass and enjoyed some snacks after their game. The rest of the people had decided to go swimming, but Maggie wasn't up to a game of chicken at the moment.

"Aww, going through puberty? Being on the rag isn't all that bad you know," Lexis joked, trying to make Maggie feel better. It worked, a little.

"It's not that though," Maggie said thoughtfully, as she tucked her knees underneath her chin and watched as someone managed to knock another person off someone's shoulders and sent them splashing into the water.

"Then what's up? The parents pressuring you again?" Lexis questioned, she knew that most of teenager's so called "depression" came from the parents trying to force them into doing something they didn't want to do.

"More like the parents forcing me into moving across the fucking country," Maggie finally spilled, and with that the tears spilled out of her eyes again. She was sobbing now, finally letting her dad's words sink in, not like before when she had also been angry.

"Don't cry Mags, I mean it can't be that bad. You'll still get to visit them for the summer and vacation. It can't be any worse than living in New York City," Lexis tried to console Maggie, hugging her friend and smoothing her hair out.

"It's not like that Lexis. If only it were that simple. But I won't ever be able to come back to Lakeside, my whole family is moving to LA in two weeks or so. My dad told me this morning," Maggie said, taking deep breaths and blinking away the tears.

"LA, as in Los Angeles, California?" Lexis asked; her eyes wide open.

"No Sherlock, Los Angeles, New York. Where else?"

"Damn, that's far. That's crazy far. Why would your dad want to move all the way over there? Hell, why would he want to move at all?"

"I don't know. He fed me some B.S. about the school system here. But I doubt that it's any better over there. But, whatever, the point is I'm moving and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm not even going back to York Prep, I'll be attending some shitty-ass magnet school, the Academy of Music he called it. It's so annoying. Why the fuck couldn't he have let me graduate here and go to college, then he could have done whatever he felt like. But no, he had to go ahead and ruin my life!"

"Oh get over it Mags, I mean LA can't be all that bad. You'll have more sunshine, that's for sure. And just think about all the hot surfer dudes you'll meet with their amazing washboard abs. Plus, you'll be neighbors with Adam Levine*** or something," Lexis joked, trying to make light of the matter at hand.

"I doubt it," Maggie said, getting up. "Hey, thanks for listening to my bitching for a while, it really means a lot."

"No problem girl, like Mrs. Bennet so smartly puts it 'Those who do not complain are never pitied,'" Lexis smiled.

"I'll see you around then," and with that Maggie got on her bike and rode home. She needed to rest before facing her mom the next day. She would have to work out a plan.

~oOo~

The next morning, Maggie woke up feeling refreshed. She had cried herself to sleep after skipping dinner and a bath. She had almost forgotten how screwed up her life was when she sat in her bathtub, but then it all came back to her. She was going to break the news to her mom today, and she had already figured out how to do it. She would suggest to her mom that they go shopping, get their nails done, anything girly to keep her mom happy when she dropped the bomb on her. It was fool proof.

After a late breakfast, she found her mom sitting on the porch talking to Mrs. Singleton about the annual "Bonfire on the Beach" for the community. _Shit_, Maggie thought to herself. She had forgotten that this year her mom was on the committee to help organize the bonfire.

"Hey mom, hi Mrs. Singleton," Maggie said putting on a smiling face.

"Hi Maggie, Lexis is at the lake if you want to go meet up with her," Mrs. Singleton said, pointing in the general direction of the lake.

"Oh thanks, but I was planning on spending the day with my mom. I haven't done that in a while," Maggie smiled, although she knew she would much rather be at the lake while she still could.

"Great, you can drive into town with me to pick up a few things we need for next week's bonfire," her mom smiled up brightly at Maggie.

"Oh, that's a great idea. Well I'll leave you two to your business then," Mrs. Singleton said before taking the small path that connected both properties.

"Let me get my purse and sunglasses and then we'll be off," her mom said, as she went inside. Maggie sighed and sat on the chair her mom had previously occupied.

The car ride to the shopping center was hell. Maggie had to sit there and pretend there was nothing wrong while her mom blabbered on about the preparations for the bonfire, and her mom went so far as to mention the Fall Festival that wouldn't be until Thanksgiving, when Maggie usually came home. Maggie nodded at every suggestion her mom made for the Festival, but she didn't put forth anything. After finding everything that was needed for the bonfire they decided to go in for ice cream at the local Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors. Maggie chose one scoop of pistachio almond, the best invention by mankind, and her mom got a banana split, if Maggie loved ice cream, her mom was crazy about it.

"So, mom," Maggie began, watching her mom eat her ice cream as they sat at a picnic table outside.

"Yes, dear."

"Um… where do I begin?" Maggie sighed and paused, searching for the right words. Her mom took this as a different sign.

"Oh my goodness, Maggie, you're pregnant aren't you?!" her mom said, dropping her spoon and clutching Maggie by the shoulders, making Maggie almost drop her ice cream.

"What? No, its nothing of that sort," Maggie said, releasing herself from her mom's clutch.

"Then what? Do you have a boyfriend?" her mom asked accusingly.

"No."

"Maggie…"

"We're moving to Los Angeles! Dad has resigned from Lakeside Community College and is going to teach Calculus at a high school," Maggie blurted out. There, she said it; she hit all the main points. Now all she had to do was wait for her mother's reaction.

Her mom was silent for a few moments, her eyes wide open and her mouth opening and closing as if she wanted to say something. Maggie just watched her expressions change from shock to disbelief, to just plain sad. "What, are you sure?"

"Yes," Maggie said, she was surprised at her own tone, it left no room for argument.

"And when did he tell you this?" her mom had anger in her voice, or maybe it was jealousy. Jealous that Maggie knew about this life changing decision before she knew it.

"Just yesterday," Maggie said, making her voice sound warmer.

"Oh Maggie!" her mom began crying, burying her face in hands, her shoulders shaking.

"Please mom, don't cry, or else I'm going to start crying, too," Maggie said as she moved over and placed an arm around her mom's shoulders, their roles reversed. She handed her mom a tissue into which she noisily blew her nose in.

"But why would your father do such a thing?" her mom said, her sobs subsiding and her tissue dabbing at her nose. She looked horrible.

"Something about the school system, he didn't say exactly," Maggie explained.

"I'm sure if I talk to the superintendents, they can set him right."

"There's no use trying, he's determined to go. He's already sold the house. We move in two weeks."

"Two weeks? What is your father thinking? And not even telling me of his plans!"

"Geez mom, the way you complain about Lakeside I would have thought that you would actually be glad to leave the place."

"I'm sure I prefer Lakeside to any city, but Los Angeles! With it's traffic, and pollution, and the young people who think that they can party and drink without consequences. We don't know anyone in Los Angeles; it's on the other side of the country! And where will we live?"

"His friend, Mr. Bell or something like that, is going to rent us out one of his houses he owns in the area. And he helped dad find a job at the local high school, and I'm supposed to attend some magnet or academy of some sort."

"How are we supposed to pack?! And the furniture, how will it all get there?" her mom sounded worried, but Maggie was happy to see that she was at least getting used to the thought of the storm that moving would stir up.

"Dad didn't mention the details, but he seems to have most of it figured out," Maggie said, hoping that her dad did have some sort of moving plan worked out. Sometimes he would only paint with one side of the spectrum and then forget about the other colors on the other side of the rainbow.

"We need to get home, I feel a sudden headache," her mom said getting up. Maggie nodded and helped her mom to their car. When they got home, her mom went straight to her room, saying she would not be disturbed. Maggie was more than happy to leave her mom alone, she too needed some quiet alone time. Maybe she would go to the lake.

~oOo~

It was dark, the sun had set hours ago, and Maggie was still at the lake. She was just sitting there, watching the water, when she felt a soft touch on her shoulder and heard her dad say her name.

"I was getting worried. I thought you wouldn't come home," he said before taking a seat next to her on the soft sand.

"I'm not that immature dad, I wouldn't run away just like that. First, I would wait until both you and my mom were sleeping, then I'd steal all your money, and your credit cards, and I'd probably take the car too," Maggie joked.

"Well it's good to know that if my kid ever runs away, she'll be smart enough to survive a good day before the police finally catches up to her," he laughed. Maggie smiled, she hadn't heard her dad laugh in a while.

"So…" Maggie wanted to avoid the subject, but it was something she couldn't avoid. The more she put it off, the worse it would be. "How exactly are we getting to LA. I mean, it's not like it's a short drive away. Plus, we have all our furniture to take care of. And we haven't even started to pack. And who knows how much shit we have in the garage that we haven't touched in years."

"No one said this would be easy, but we just have to put our best foot forward. If life gives us lemons, let's make lemonade, so to speak," he shrugged.

"Yea, but no one ever said we should go looking for the lemons," Maggie snapped back. Her dad didn't have a plan, which annoyed her.

"Oh come on Maggie, I'll just talk to Mr. Bell tomorrow and see what he suggests. We'll figure something out," he said.

"No dad, you'll figure something out, I'll just help. I'm still a kid here," Maggie got up and started to walk back to their house. Her dad quickly followed her suit and they walked to the house in silence. At the door to her room he spoke.

"Sorry for doing this to you Maggie, but just know that I love you and your mom. And no matter what happens, we're a family, and we'll get through this," he looked sad; Maggie hugged him.

"I know dad, I'm just being an immature brat right now, I guess I haven't gotten over the fact that the world doesn't revolve around me. We'll make it through this."

"Goodnight Maggie," he said kissing the top of her head.

"Goodnight dad," Maggie said and walked into her room. She got out her iPod, and putting it on shuffle, she got into bed, ready to be lulled asleep by music. And for some reason, in the morning, she could still hear the song that had been playing when she fell asleep.

_Something's gotta change. _

_It must be rearranged, oh. _

_I'm sorry, I did not mean, to hurt my little girl. _

_It's beyond me; I cannot carry the weight of a heavy world. _

_So goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, _

_Goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, goodnight, _

_Goodnight, hope that things work out all right. _

~oOo~

The days before the "Bonfire on the Beach" had gone by too fast for Maggie's liking. She had spent the first day packing her own things into boxes, mainly her books. She didn't have much use for much of anything else in her room. She took down the posters that had remained on her walls since her elementary school days, posters picturing boy bands like N'Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Because she had lived the majority of her defining years at her aunt's house, she didn't have much of anything in this room that would tell you who she was. A lot of things she just ended up throwing out. There was no use keeping them. Besides, her dad had assured her that they would stop by her aunt's house the day before they left (they were leaving from the JFK**** International Airport) so that Maggie could pack the things she had left in what had been her room at her aunt's house. She had many more things there that she didn't want to leave behind, mainly her poster of Maroon 5 that she had gotten signed by all five members of the band, and she had even managed to get Ryan Dusick, the band's old drummer, to sign it. It was one her most prized possessions. She had in a frame and everything, along with her ticket stub for the concert that had allowed her to attain all those signatures.

Helping pack around the house was a different story. The bright side was that her dad had indeed called Mr. Bell, and he had told them that the house came with the basic furniture, a bed in each room, a living room set, a dining room set, and a fridge and stove in the kitchen. But her mom had insisted they pack all the delicate decorations that covered the living room, the glass dining ware, anything that could be used to decorate. Luckily her dad had put himself in charge of cleaning out the garage which saved them the trouble of her mother finding something that reminded her of Fred and sitting down to cry and wonder what part of the world he was in. Despite his emails, she could never stop worrying about her little boy. Maggie usually rolled her eyes at these words and snatched whatever her mom happened to be holding and put it into a box that would most likely never be unpacked when it got to LA.

Thus, the majority of the week was spent in this manner, packing and throwing stuff out, so that by the time the day of the bonfire arrived, Maggie was sitting on her bed looking at her life packed up in boxes.

"Maggie, we're going to be late. And I can't be late, not as a part of the committee!" her mom yelled at her from somewhere downstairs. Maggie sighed, and looked herself over in the full-length mirror that was still hanging in her room and most likely going to stay there. She was wearing a cute summer dress that just covered her knees, matching flats, with her hair tied up in a ponytail, her bangs just to the right of her face. She looked good, her mom would approve. And she might as well leave a good last impression on the people of Lakeside, people she would most likely never see again but who would always remember that Hale girl who stunned everyone at the bonfire with her looks. She smiled before following her parents to the lake.

The shore of the lake was already packed with people, even though the actual event wouldn't start for another half hour. Maggie found Lexis, and they found seats where they could see everything going on around them. They helped themselves to veggie dogs and chips, iced tea, salad, cookies, cupcakes, candy, ice cream, and everything they could get their hands on. It was the best part of the bonfire after all. Later the games started, things like the sack race Lexis and Maggie stood out on, they were wearing dresses after all. But they joined in for the three-legged race, laughing more at the other people than trying to win themselves.

When the dancing started, Lexis and Maggie were among the first who got onto the dance floor. They were having a good time, the guys they had met once joining them at one point. Maggie was having so much fun she forgot that she was leaving Lakeside the following day to drive down to New York City to say bye to her uncle, aunt, and Edith.

It was way past midnight when the last of the people left. Maggie had remained behind, sitting on the shore, thinking that this was the last night she would be able to enjoy the site of the lake, the moon reflecting beautifully on it's surface. This was like a tradition with her. Every year, the day before she had to go back to New York City for school, she would spend the night watching the moon on the lake, not wanting to leave but knowing that she would come back eventually. Not this time, this would probably be the last time she set eyes on Lake Ontario at night. Tears welled up in her eyes, but none fell. Sighing, she reluctantly got up and turned to walk back to her house, never looking back because she knew that if she looked back she would not be able to leave.

~oOo~

"Maggie, I'm going to miss you so much!" Edith had her arms around Maggie's neck. They were at the airport, waiting for their flight to be called. Maggie and her family had arrived at the Shaw's house the previous day. Maggie had finished packing the last of her things that remained in her room. And now they were here, at the airport, waiting for the plane that would take them to the other side of the country.

"Me too!" Maggie cried, hugging her cousin back with the same intensity.

"FLIGHT 376 with final destination to Los Angeles, CA preparing to board," a voice was heard on the loudspeaker. The Hales and the Shaws exchanged glances. Giving each other their final hugs, the Hales grabbed their carry-on luggage.

"Here Mags, I got you something," Edith said just before they walked away. It was a gift bag, and it was pretty heavy. "Don't open it here. And get on AIM as soon as you get there. And don't forget to upload pictures on Facebook, and don't forget about me."

"Never ever!" Maggie gave her cousin one last hug before she walked away with her parents. They boarded their plane, Maggie called window seat, and as their plane took off, Maggie could not help but let some tears fall down her face as she watched New York become a blur of twinkling lights. She plugged her ear-buds in her ears and let the music play.

_I'll never leave you behind, or treat you unkind._

_I know you understand. And with a tear in my eye,_

_Give me the sweetest goodbye, that I ever did receive. _

As the plane leveled in the air and they were allowed to take off their seatbelts, Maggie remembered the present that Edith had given her. She had a little trouble taking it out of the bag, it was wrapped in tissue, and though it was flexible, it was heavy. She laid it on her lap and tore away the tissue paper. Her eyes were treated to a rainbow of colorful t-shirts. She removed the first shirt from the pile, a white shirt. She held it up and it unraveled before her eyes, reading "I (heart) NY." She smiled and saw that she had in her possession now, a "I (heart) NY" shirt in every color that her cousin could have gotten her hands on. It was indeed the "sweetest goodbye."

… _Say goodbye and just fly away…_

~oOo~

Maggie gazed steadily out the window as their plane was preparing to land. She could see bright lights, and it reminded her of New York, but there was no Statue of Liberty here. The closer they got, the more she could distinguish things like cars and buildings. It was a stunning sight, the lights extended for miles, but she could not help wishing that it were New York that lay beneath her.

They finally landed in the LAX*****, and got through to baggage claim.

"So, how are we getting home? We don't have a car yet," Maggie realized as they exited the airport and where greeted by the giant letters that read LAX and structures that changed color, blue to red to purple.

"Tom said he would pick us up," her dad said as he took out his cell phone and dialed Mr. Bell.

"There are so many cars here, it will be impossible to find his car when he does get here," her mom complained.

"Yes, thank you Tom," her dad said before hanging up.

"So?" Maggie said, breaking her gaze from a shiny black Audi R8 with tinted windows, she couldn't see who was driving, she guessed it was some rich snob who had decided to pick up his friends for a long weekend of partying.

"One of his young friends is going to pick us up in a black car, an Audi," her dad said, squinting and looking around for a car that fit his description. "A Johnathon Thornton."

"Is that him over there?" her mom said, pointing to the black Audi that Maggie had previously been eyeing.

Her dad looked at the car, "Let's find out."

The Hales cautiously approached the car, when suddenly the driver's door opened and out stepped God's gift to women, or so Maggie thought. The guy, he couldn't be much older than 17, was tall, maybe 6 feet, with a strong jaw. He had shockingly black hair, which sat upon his head in an untidy mess, a sort of sex-hair look if you would, and the eyes to go with it. His skin was evenly tanned, Maggie guessed it to be a result of spending endless summer days at the beach which was so close. He was wearing a black button up shirt, but the last two buttons were undone and the sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, revealing sinewy arms. And the shirt was just tight enough so that Maggie could almost picture the slim but built upper body underneath. Maggie thought he could not be anymore gorgeous, that is until he smiled. Maggie could almost feel her heat beating in her throat; he had the most stunning smile she had ever seen, straight white teeth and everything. Of course, this effect was enhanced when Maggie realized that he was smiling directly at her. Now, Maggie had had her fair share of guys smiling at her, but this was something completely different. Maggie was sure she felt the color rise in her face, and she cursed her pale skin for giving her away. She quickly turned away.

"Mr. Hale?" the guy asked, directing his father.

"Yes, Johnathon Thornton I presume?" her dad said, going over to shake "Johnathon's" hand. Maggie snapped out of her trance and tried to focus on other things, other things that were not named Johnathon Thornton.

"Uh, yeah, John, or Johnny. Johnathon is too…" John didn't finish his sentence; he sort of just waved it away, running his hand through his hair. "So should we go then?"

"Oh, yes, yes," Maggie's dad seemed to have forgotten what they were there for; he was obviously impressed with the guy. John opened the trunk and helped Maggie's mom with her luggage.

"Oh, thank you Johnny, that is so kind of you," Maggie's mom said graciously. Maggie could see that John kind of grimaced at her; she guessed that between "John" and "Johnny," he preferred the former to the latter. Maggie watched as her mom showed herself into the back passenger's seat while Maggie struggled to lift her own luggage into the trunk.

"Here, let me help you with that," John grabbed the suitcase from Maggie's grip, their hands almost brushing. Maggie just let him and climbed in beside her mom, leaving the "men" to handle the rest of their luggage. Of course, most of their luggage would still be on the way, it was being sent via moving truck, across the country, so there would still be a few days before it actually got to LA.

"This is a nice car," her mom looked around and admired the interior of the car, which was also black. Maggie nodded in agreement, but wondered if it belonged to John, he seemed pretty young to own such a car. Maybe his dad let him borrow it? And what connection did he have with Mr. Bell, such that Mr. Bell had sent him to pick them up. It was strange. Maggie watched her dad and John move about through the rear view mirror, glad that they could not see her observing them. Her dad then slipped into the front passenger seat while John slid into the driver's seat, as natural as if he did it every single day.

"So, John, tell me, how is it that you know Thomas?" her dad questioned, and Maggie eagerly sat up, John smoothly pulling away from the curb and into a lane.

"Mr. Bell? He used to be my dad's business advisor, so I've kinda known him for a while now. It's like he's a second dad to me, but he's also my business advisor now," John said, his eyes on the road, Maggie could see that he was a safe driver. She relaxed and looked out the window while she listened to the conversation.

"You're business advisor?" Maggie's dad was surprised.

"Uh, yeah, I've had to take over the business now since my dad passed away and left me everything in his will," John said, Maggie noticed that his voice did not waver, but it had some sort of resentment in it.

"I'm sorry to hear that," her dad said, reaching out a hand and placing it on John's shoulder before quickly removing it.

"It's okay, I guess it was just a little unexpected. He had divorced my mom when I was five, and we hadn't heard from him in a while. He never failed to take care of us, but I guess it's not the same to actually have your dad there when you open your presents on Christmas day instead of a postcard you can barely read. Then, all of sudden, he dies and leaves you his company, which has gone to the gutter, and expects you to take over it," John said. Maggie and her mom just glanced at each other in the back. Okay, so sure Maggie wanted to know who this guy was, but she didn't expect him to pour out his life story like they were his therapist or something. The car suddenly felt too small. "But I've gotten used to it, and thanks to Mr. Bell, I've managed to bring the company back up to more than what it used to be."

"I see. Well it's good to know that there are some responsible young men out there who are willing to do such a thing. It can't hurt to be a successful man at so young an age, especially with the ladies," her dad joked, and John laughed. Maggie was confused, first they were talking serious, and now they were laughing? Her dad must really like the guy.

"Yeah, I guess not," John laughed.

Maggie didn't know what else her dad talked about in the car, because next thing she knew, her mom was nudging her awake.

"Margaret, we're here honey, wake up."

"Ugh," Maggie said, rubbing her eyes. Shit, she had fallen asleep in a stranger's car, she hated sleeping in front of people she didn't know, and especially in front of hot guys she didn't know. She got out of the car just in time to see John come out of "her house" with her dad following behind. She guessed they had gotten all the luggage out already, and she felt guilty for not helping.

"Thanks again John, I don't know what we would have done without you. I hope it's not too late for you to be getting home," her dad was thanking John.

"It really was no problem, I'll do any friend of Mr. Bell's a favor any day. And don't worry; I'm pretty capable of taking care of myself. I don't live too far from here, plus my mom knows where I am," John said smiling.

"That's good to know."

"Goodnight Mr. Hale, I hope you all like LA so far, it's not so bad here, this place tends to grow on you," John waved goodbye as Mrs. Hale and Maggie approached the house, Maggie could almost swear that that last part was directed at her. What had happened while she was asleep? The family waved goodbye to John as he got back into his car and drove off before going inside, finding their rooms and beds, and falling asleep.

~oOo~

When Mr. Bell had asked John if he could pick up the Hales from the airport, John had agreed. He didn't mind running errands for his old friend, and picking up the Hales wasn't the hardest thing in the world to do. What Mr. Bell didn't mention though, was that John wasn't only going to pick up Mr. and Mrs. Hale, but he was also picking up their beautiful daughter.

John had sat in his car, his black Audi, his favorite car, waiting for the Hales when he saw her. She had just exited the airport, and was looking around looking a bit disgusted with what she saw, that is until her eyes fell upon his car. He smiled, knowing that she couldn't see him but that he could see her openly admiring his car. She was beautiful. Her long brown hair in its thick locks almost reached her waist, her green eyes standing out from her pale face. She was wearing a white "I (heart) NY" shirt that looked like she had thrown it over the dress she was wearing. And her legs, they seemed to go on forever. She was thin, but he could still see that she had a figure underneath that t-shirt. She turned away and started talking to what looked to be her parents. He was observing her and watching her as she moved closer, following the man he guessed to be her dad. And then it hit him. This girl was wearing a shirt that mentioned New York, the Hales were supposed to be from New York. Today might just be his lucky day.

He got out of his car and smiled at her as she stared back at him. He knew he was good looking, he just had never thought to use it as an advantage until now. He could see her blush before looking away, and it was then that he remembered he was supposed to be picking up the Hales.

He questioned and the man was indeed Mr. Hale. They exchanged greetings, and as he helped Mrs. Hale with his luggage he noticed that the girl wasn't looking at him, he wondered why, if she had been staring at him so openly before. He offered to help her with her luggage; she gave it to him without saying a word and got into the car. John was kind of hurt. What the fuck? He had just offered to help her, and here she was treating him like fucking servant, not saying anything like it was his job to help her. He guessed that underneath the pretty face lay a bitch, just like all the other girls at school who only wanted to date him for his money. He shrugged it off, maybe she was just shy, he shouldn't assume, he knew what they said.

The car ride to their house wasn't too bad either. Mr. Hale was an easy guy to talk to, and John had just felt comfortable telling this man he had just met about his dad. It was a topic he tried to avoid, but the man had such and inviting aura to him. Through his rear view mirror he could see their daughter, he didn't like her attitude, but he still liked looking at her. Probably half-way through the ride he noticed her fall asleep. It was then that Mr. Hale started asking him where he went to school.

Alexander Hamilton Academy of Music, John had said.

Maggie was going to go there too, Mr. Hale had said.

_So her name is Maggie, sounds innocent enough. _

She wasn't too happy about leaving New York, maybe he could show her around and introduce her to people, Mr. Hale asked eagerly.

Yeah, no problem, he could ask his sister. _Maybe that's why she was acting all bitchy, she wasn't too happy about the move. But then again, he wouldn't be happy if his mom told him that they were moving across the country. _

That would mean a lot to him. So what grade was he in?

Twelfth, he was going to twelfth. _He wasn't looking forward to all the college applications he had to fill out either. Not to mention the stress of not knowing if he got in or not._

And what did he do at school?

Acting, he acted in the musicals. _It's not like he would be doing it for the rest of his life, even if he had once wanted to be a Hollywood star he knew that he had a business to manage._

Maggie liked to act; she was pretty good at it. She also liked to dance.

Seems like she will fit right in then. _Maybe we'll get to do musicals together, but who knew how good she was._

She hopes to go to Juilliard one day.

Well I hope she makes it. _Either she must be really good, or really ambitious. Or both._

Of course she wouldn't be applying for a while. She was going into eleventh.

At least she knows what she wants. Some people go into their senior year and still don't know what they want. _She was only a year younger than him. He didn't know if that was good or bad._

That's true.

They had arrived at the Hale's house, and John got out to help them with the luggage. Maggie was still asleep in the back seat, but they had not moved to wake her up. It was only when John had gone back downstairs with Mr. Hale that Maggie was out of the car. Her hair was messed up slightly, and she looked like she was sleepwalking. He said his goodbyes, intending his last words for her, before getting into his car and driving home. He would send his mom over to visit them in the next week, to give them some time to settle in. Hell, he would visit them too, he wouldn't mind seeing her again.

**A/N: How was that, eh? Did you like it? First meeting! I know I changed JT's name, a little, but don't hate me. He still goes by John. Oh and did you like that JT POV at the end? Should I keep that up?**

**Okay, so be nice to me on my birthday and leave me a nice REVIEW!!! Pretty please!**

**Lots of notes:**

***Good morning. (And to clarify, I meant that Spanish was my first language, not my mother tongue, I sort of just wrote that down without thinking.)**

****This school is real, I know because I went there. It has a music and a humanities magnet. Look it up online, it's a good school.**

*****People have a misconception that just because you live in LA it means that seeing celebrities is an everyday occurrence. It's not. It depends where you go, and if you're lucky you get to see one. I don't think I have...**

******John F. Kennedy. They have a huge airport in New York named after him. He was a US president.**

*******Los Angles International airport. And it does have those structures that change colors, or the lights change, but it looks pretty. Coming into LA at night is really a nice sight.**


	4. Settling In

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South." Anything else in here that you recognize is not mine either. And I'm not affiliated with anything in here either.**

**A/N: Ok, so I decided to move my story out of the M rated category because I realized that the bad words aren't that bad and that other people write much more explicit things in T rated stories, so there isn't much to worry about.**

**I also made this short chapter, not a lot happens, but I felt bad for not updating in a while.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 4: Settling In

Maggie woke up and was momentarily confused. She sat up and looked around the room, which was obviously not hers, the walls were blank and the only things in the room bedsides her was the furniture, one piece which included the bed on which she found herself. Why was she still in the clothes she wore yesterday, where were her pajamas and most importantly, where the hell was she? Realization came a moment too late, and she fell back onto the bed. So she was in LA now, great. She couldn't hear any noise in the house; she wondered what time it was. Maggie got up from "her" bed and found her cell phone in the front pocket of her bag, 10:13. It wasn't too late. She changed and went downstairs in search of her parents.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Maggie asked as she wandered through the empty house until she came upon the kitchen where the few boxes they had brought were piled on top of a table. She spotted a note on the table, _Margaret, Went to the market with your father and Johnny. Will be back soon with breakfast and basic groceries. Please clean the fridge. Love, Mom_. Maggie didn't know what time they had left, so she set off on the task at hand: cleaning the fridge. It looked pretty clean on the outside but Maggie was unprepared for what she found on the inside. The inside was lined in some sort of greenish layer, and in some places where it was more concentrated there could also be seen fuzzy white things growing out of it. She groaned and wondered when the last time this refrigerator had been in use. She found a bucket full of cleaning materials and pulled on the yellow cleaning gloves, tied her hair up in a ponytail, and set to work. It was disgusting.

Maggie was humming to herself as she kneeled in front of the refrigerator cleaning out the bottom drawers when the door to the house was opened.

"Maggie? We're back!" her dad yelled, and Maggie looked up to see him holding at least ten grocery bags in each hand.

"I see, need help?"

"Yes, your mother and John are bringing in more things."

"John?" Maggie muttered to herself questioningly just as she was heading out the door backwards, looking at her dad, not paying attention to where she was walking until she bumped into someone. Or more like her elbows dug into something.

"Ow!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Maggie said as she turned quickly as she saw John standing there, a trace of pain in his face. She blushed slightly before getting out of the way, letting him go on with his task. But that didn't change the fact that she was still wondering what he could possibly be doing in her house and helping her parents. She understood that Mr. Bell had asked him to give them a ride, but carrying their groceries? Wasn't that just a little too much? She decided to avoid him as she helped carry in a few groceries and decided to organize them into the newly cleaned fridge.

"Thank you John, I don't know what we could have done without you," Maggie's dad was saying to John as Maggie was still putting away the groceries while her mom cleaned out a few of the dusty cupboards.

"It's really no problem. I'm actually not doing anything for the next few days, so if you need any more help, don't hesitate to call me," John said running a hand through his hair. Maggie eyed him suspiciously, but when his eyes met hers she quickly looked away.

"Oh thank you. No wonder Tom holds you in such high esteem."

"And I return that esteem, he's really been a great help."

"I'm sure."

"So if you don't need me right now I guess I should be heading back home, my mom might want me to run a few errands for her, or watch my sister."

"Don't let me hold you back."

"Right. So I'll see you then. Bye Mrs. Hale," John said as he turned to go. Then he added, "Bye Maggie."

"Bye Johnny," her mom said as he walked out.

Maggie was too dumbfounded to speak. How did he know her name? Seriously, this guy was weird.

~oOo~

John had been helping Mr. Hale move in even though Mr. Bell had not asked him to do anything beyond giving them a ride home from the airport. But John really liked Mr. Hale; he was a cool guy.

So when Mr. Hale had called John the next morning to ask him if he could possible drive him to the local grocery market, John had been more than happy to help. When he drove up to their house he was a little disappointed to see that only the Mr. and Mrs. were coming and not their daughter. He had driven them to Albertson's*, the closest grocery market, and followed them patiently around the store. He then drove them back to their house, wondering all the time if he would manage to talk, or at least see Maggie today.

Just as he was convincing himself that he would be happy to just see her, heavy grocery bags in hand, he bumped into her. Well, more like she elbowed him in the stomach, nearly knocking the air out of him and almost making him drop the bags.

"Ow!" John let out a gasp, but recovered fast enough to keep his hold on the bags. But he nearly dropped them again as she turned to face him.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" John heard her words, but he was paying attention to how pretty she looked. She had blushed, and it only made her eyes stand out more. She got out of his way, and John went inside, wishing that she had offered to massage his stomach where she had elbowed him. It would be a good excuse to show her his abs that he had been working on this past year. He smiled to himself as he thought of what other things he could show her. He continued in this way helping with the groceries that he didn't notice that she was no longer carrying groceries but putting them away.

"Thank you John, I don't know what we could have done without you," Mr. Hale was saying to him, making John snap out of his reverie.

"It's really no problem. I'm actually not doing anything for the next few days, so if you need any more help, don't hesitate to call me," John said running a hand through his hair, trying to catch Maggie's eye at his last statement. She looked at him, and he managed to catch her eye, but she turned away quickly. A good sign, he thought.

"Oh thank you. No wonder Tom holds you in such high esteem."

"And I return that esteem, he's really been a great help," John said, now looking at Mr. Hale, but he was watching Maggie through his peripherals, she looked way too focused on putting the groceries in the fridge.

"I'm sure."

"So if you don't need me right now I guess I should be heading back home, my mom might want me to run a few errands for her, or watch my sister," John said, not really looking forward to taking care of his sister, or rather playing chauffeur for her and her annoying friends who flirted with him to the point of disgust.

"Don't let me hold you back."

"Right. So I'll see you then. Bye Mrs. Hale," he said as he turned to go. Then he added, "Bye Maggie."

"Bye Johnny," Mrs. Hale said, and John smiled as he saw that Maggie looked confused. She was probably wondering how he knew her name. Yup, this girl was definitely falling for him, he thought to himself as he drove his car home.

~oOo~

The rest of the day passed on in the same manner. They put things that they had away. Maggie set out to explore her new house, and realized that it was much smaller than their house in Lakeside. Her room was probably half its size, and she wondered how she was going to fit in all her books when there was no room for bookshelves or bookcases. The future of her books looked quite dim.

The next day still brought no news of the trucks that would be bringing the rest of their things. Her dad had gone out once more with John, to Home Depot or something to buy paint so that Maggie and her mom could at least feel more at home if they had their rooms the same color as their rooms in Lakeside. Maggie spent that day painting her room a nice mint green. She left the frames of the windows and the doors white, giving the room nice accents.

It wasn't until the third day that the trucks that brought the rest of their possessions arrived. The truck that was bringing their car also arrived. And with the trucks came John, who came to help her dad out some more. Maggie was more annoyed with the unbearable heat—she wore a tank top and some shorts with her hair in a bun—than to care that John was there.

Maggie had managed to avoid him while unloading the truck for the most part, as she was carrying boxes with her name on them while he picked up miscellaneous boxes. That is until he picked up a box labeled "Libros de Maggie.**" He was carrying them into the house when Maggie noticed.

"Um, let me take that," she said as she tried to get the box from his hands. It was the most she had spoken to him other than polite greetings and an occasional "excuse me" at the door or stairs.

"Don't worry I got it," he said, moving the box away.

"Really, hand it over. Besides, the box is mine and I really prefer to carry my own things," Maggie insisted.

"It's kind of heavy though. I really can't let you carry it, it'll make me feel bad for letting a girl carry it."

"I could care less about your male ego, now please give me my box. I'm busy and I could have already been unpacking the box instead of standing here in the heat arguing over who will carry the box."

"Fine," he said and placed the box in her arms.

Maggie's arms fell a little under the weight of the box. It really was heavy! Damn her and her feminist ideas! She should have just let him carry the box, but no, instead she just had to insist on carrying the box. And It wasn't like she could ask him for help at this point, she would just look stupid. She wasn't sure her pride would let her do such a thing, nope, she would rather struggle with the weight of the box than admit that she needed help. She slowly began to climb the stairs, her arms slipping with every step she took.

"Shit!" Maggie's arms finally gave away and she dropped the box on the stairs. The poorly closed box opened and poured out its contents, Maggie just watched as her books came out. She immediately bent down to retrieve them just as John also reached for them.

"Let me help you with that."

"Thanks, stupid box, can't even stay closed," Maggie said as she picked up "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" from the pile of books on the stairs. So this is the box with the Harry Potter books. No wonder it was so heavy, with seven hard cover books, how could it not. But then again, books in general weighed a lot, especially the ones she had.

"Have you read all of these?" John asked, as he picked up "Anna Karenina" and placed it back in the box.

"No, not yet. I read that one, but a lot of the books in this particular box I bought for my English class, you know, summer reading. And even though I'm not going back I mean, the books are classics, it won't hurt to at least be familiar with them," Maggie said, wondering why she was telling John all these things. It's not like he cared. But she couldn't help but wonder if he had read some of them. Looks and brains usually didn't mix; there were few exceptions.

"You say 'this particular box,' you mean there are more boxes filled with books?"

"Yes. This is the last of them; I already managed to get the other boxes to my room. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on doing the same with this one," Maggie closed the box as best she could before attempting to pick it up again.

"I got it this time," John said as he easily took the box from her and walked up the stairs, he made carrying the box look easy. Maggie scowled but let him take it. "So where is your room?"

"Here," Maggie said as she opened the door to her room, and pointing to the corner where her bookshelf was said, "You can just put it over there."

"Right," John put the box down and stared at the bookshelf, which was already covered with books. He picked one up. "Hey, I read this one for my Spanish class. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is good with details; sometimes he gets a little too descriptive though. I liked the book in general, but I really felt sorry for the guy, Florentino was his name I think. Pining away for some chick that ended up not giving a damn for him, that's enough to make anyone depressed."

Maggie didn't say anything as he flipped through "El amor en los tiempos del colera***" but just waited silently holding the door to her room, clearly showing that she wanted him out of her private space. She had never had a guy in her room, not even Henry had gone in her room at her aunt's house, and she had known him for years. Now this guy, who she didn't know for more than three days, was flipping through her books like he was at a library. Seriously, why didn't he just leave her family alone already?

"Yeah I've read quite a few of these. English is more my subject. So I'm still wondering what I was on when I decided to take AP Calculus for next year. I'm gonna be screwed!" he laughed, putting the book back and taking another.

Maggie was still silent as she watched John talk to himself. 'What he was on?' She was willing to believe that he did drugs. She began tapping her foot on the floor in impatience, but the effect died out due to the carpeted floor. She coughed instead.

"Oh, right, I'll leave you alone now," he said as he walked out, Maggie closed the door so fast behind him she didn't see him turn around with a hurt look on his face.

~oOo~

The following day John had taken Mr. Hale to Home Depot**** to buy paint. While Mr. Hale was looking at the paint John had been thinking about what color Maggie would paint her room. On the ride over Mr. Hale had explained that he wanted to paint the rooms the same color as their old rooms to make the transition a little easier, to give their new home the same feel.

Mr. Hale ended up buying so many colors, mostly light pastel colors, that John had no idea what color Maggie would choose. Among the many colors were pink, white, blue, green, lavender, and peach. John only hoped that the pink wasn't for Maggie, he had seen way too many girls obsessed with the color, one of which included his younger sister.

The day after that Mr. Hale had called him once more to see if he could help them with their boxes that the trucks had just brought. John was more than happy to help. He was more than happy to see that he agreed to help when he saw Maggie in some shorts and a tank top, feeding his imagination. He tried to push all thoughts of her from his mind as she gave him little encouragement, barely speaking more than two words together.

He blamed the heat, it was especially hot today; the usual California fires making Los Angeles feel like an oven. In the distance he could see the cloud of smoke from the fires that was already beginning to spread in the sky because of the wind. The whole sky looked like it was almost sunset, it had an orange glow to it though it was barely noon. He had even found ash on his car that day. And although he knew it was bad to like the effect of the ashes on the sun because so many people had either already lost or were in danger of losing their homes, he was looking forward to the real sunset when the sky would take on colors ranging from orange to a deep purple. Not to mention the orange moon that would follow the setting of the sun.*****

She ignored him, and he did his best to ignore her. He was helping her mother by carrying the boxes labeled with things like "Living Room" and "Kitchen." He was getting bored of Mrs. Hale and wanted desperately to talk to Maggie.

So he did one thing that he was sure would make her talk to him, he grabbed the box labeled "Libros de Maggie." He had surreptitiously been watching her the whole day as she picked up only the boxes that had her name on them. He was intrigued when he saw Spanish words on them. He was taking Spanish in school; it seemed a dumb idea not to take Spanish if you lived in LA. He was sure that if she liked books and spoke Spanish then they would get along just fine.

Just as he had hoped she spotted him carrying her box.

"Um, let me take that," Maggie said, trying to take the box from him. He could feel the warmth of her arms as she did her best to pry the box from his grip.

"Don't worry I got it," he said, moving the box away. That had been the most they had spoken to each other all day and he was hoping that they could speak more.

"Really, hand it over. Besides, the box is mine and I really prefer to carry my own things," Maggie insisted. Wasn't she a stubborn one, John smiled on the inside; he liked girls that put up a fight instead of just drooling all over him.

"It's kind of heavy though. I really can't let you carry it, it'll make me feel bad for letting a girl carry it," John said this, but he really wanted to show her that he could easily carry the box. His "guns" were in their prime, and he wanted to show off.

"I could care less about your male ego, now please give me my box. I'm busy and I could have already been unpacking the box instead of standing here in the heat arguing over who will carry the box." Harsh, he though to himself. So she's a feminist, not a bad thing really, although he did like being the gentleman most times. But did she really think he had an ego?

"Fine," he said and placed the box in her arms. He smiled to see that she was surprised with how heavy the box was. He wanted to see how far she would make it before asking for his help. He watched as she made it the first few steps up, it was his turn to be surprised that she was actually going to go through with this. That is, until he saw her losing her hold on the box before the books came tumbling out.

"Shit!" she said; he just smiled.

"Let me help you with that," he bent down to help her with her books.

"Thanks, stupid box, can't even stay closed," he heard her murmur some thanks before going on to cursing the box. He saw her pick up an especially thick Harry Potter book, and couldn't help but wonder if she was also into Twilight. His sister had tried to make him read the books, but seeing as he hadn't even read the Harry Potter series he wouldn't even try to pick up the Twilight series.

"Have you read all of these?" John asked, as he picked up "Anna Karenina" and placed it back in the box. It was a pretty thick book and the pages looked quite thin, not to mention the size of the words.

"No, not yet. I read that one, but a lot of the books in this particular box I bought for my English class, you know, summer reading. And even though I'm not going back I mean, the books are classics, it won't hurt to at least be familiar with them," she said. He was happy that she was talking to him now, and he saw that she respected books as much as he did. He noticed a lot of classis, mentally checking off which he had read and which he should read.

"You say 'this particular box,' you mean there are more boxes filled with books?" he asked, he thought he had already seen a good number of books.

"Yes. This is the last of them; I already managed to get the other boxes to my room. Now if you'll excuse me, I plan on doing the same with this one." John watched her as she closed the box and tried to pick it up again.

"I got it this time," John said as he easily took the box from her and walked up the stairs. She couldn't refuse now. "So where is your room?"

"Here. You can just put it over there." John followed her into her room and put the box in the corner she pointed to. He glanced at her room quickly, noticing the green color and approving.

"Right," he stared at the bookshelf that was covered with books before recognizing one and taking it off the shelf "Hey, I read this one for my Spanish class. Gabriel Garcia Marquez is good with details, sometimes he gets a little too descriptive though. I liked the book in general, but I really felt sorry for the guy, Florentino was his name I think. Pining away for some chick that ended up not giving a damn for him, that's enough to make anyone depressed."

He was rambling, but he just wanted her to talk to him. She was just standing at her door looking at him, but he didn't want to leave just yet.

"Yeah I've read quite a few of these. English is more my subject. So I'm still wondering what I was on when I decided to take AP Calculus for next year. I'm gonna be screwed!" he laughed, putting the book back and taking another, trying to get her into the conversation when he heard her cough. He turned to look at her. She looked annoyed, and he got the message. She was not interested.

"Oh, right, I'll leave you alone now," he said and walked out of the room. He turned to look at her one last time, but instead he just saw her slam the door shut.

**A/N: Short chapter. I still need to figure out a better way to include the John POV into this...**

**Please REVIEW!!! **

**Notes:**

***A large chain of grocery markets. **

****Maggie's Books**

*****"Love in the time of cholera" by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I have read many books by this guy, I still need to read "100 years of solitude" (of course I will read it in spanish)**

******A large chain of hardware supplies. They sell paint and other stuff to fix things, like wood. **

*******LA is burning as I write this. The heat is truly unbearable. But the scene that John describes happened today. I also found ashes on my car and I could see some floating down from the sky. It looks really pretty and I feel bad for liking it. Check out youtube and there are some videos which show the LA area burning and the sunset. **


	5. Summer Faces

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**Disclaimer: I do not own "North and South." Anything else you recognize in here belongs to their respective owners!**

**A/N: We get to meet some new characters! Woohoo! I would have published this sooner but the fanfiction was having some problems and wouldn't let me upload anything! But it's working again. Please review!**

Chapter 5: Summer Faces

_Now as the summer fades I let you slip away_

_You say I'm not your type but I can make you sway_

_It makes you burn to learn you're not the only one_

_[…]_

'_Cause you keep me coming back for more_

_And I feel a little better than I did before_

_If I never see your face again I don't mind_

"_If I never see your face again" by _Maroon 5

Maggie was glad to be alone again. She had gotten all her boxes in her room, and she knew that her parents wouldn't bother her anymore. She set out to unpack her books and her clothes, her main priorities. She managed to stay in her room for the remainder of the day; she didn't even bother to go down to lunch.

It wasn't until dinner that her stomach began to grumble and she immediately went downstairs when her mother called her to dinner. Maggie entered the dining room and saw that John was still there.

"Um, thanks for the dinner offer, Mrs. Hale, but I have to head home now," John was saying as Maggie walked into the kitchen.

"Please, I insist, you have been so helpful today that I will feed bad if you go home on an empty stomach," her mom was begging.

John looked at Maggie, who had taken a seat at the table and had her back to him. If only she said seconded her mother's opinion, then he would have gladly stayed. But Maggie did no such thing, in fact it seemed that she didn't even notice his presence there. Maybe he had been wrong, maybe it was _him_ that was falling for _her_. Maybe she had a boyfriend back in New York, a pretty thing like her, she had to have a boyfriend. "You already fed me lunch, and I really have to be going now."

"Thanks again John," Maggie's dad added. John waved goodbye and left without another word. Maggie unconsciously let out a sigh, she was glad to finally have him out of her house, and if she didn't see him again for the rest of the summer it would be fine by her.

"So you get anywhere with those boxes full of books?" her dad asked her.

"Yeah, and I managed to put away most of my clothes and I started on a little decorating," Maggie replied as she took the veggie dog her mom offered her.

"Ah yes, your posters of that band…. I can't get the name, remind me again? Maroon 4?" her mom asked, as she took a seat beside her.

"Maroon 5 mom," Maggie rolled her eyes.

"Ah yes, Maroon 5," her dad commented as he tool a bite out of his regular hotdog.

"Where are they from? UK?" her dad asked.

"No, they are actually from here, LA," Maggie said, her eyes lighting up a bit, so she might not be neighbors with Adam Levine, but maybe she could go to Hollywood and buy one of those famous "star maps" that showed where celebrities lived. It would definitely be something to brag about to Lexis the next time she talked to her. Which reminded her, "Hey, dad, when are we going to get out internet installed? I am in desperate need of a form of communication!"

"That will be installed next week," her dad replied.

Maggie groaned, how was she to survive without AIM and Facebook, and Twitter, and YouTube. She needed her internet access!

"There is a public library not to far from here, maybe you can go check it out tomorrow. I'm sure you'll want a subscription to check out books. And they will have computers there."

"How far?"

"About three or four blocks down Robertson Blvd, the big street down that way," her dad pointed incoherently. "Your new school is also on Robertson, just a little farther down in the other direction. Which reminds me, you have to go pick up your class schedule soon, and you need to talk to the counselors. Tom said there were a few things that you need to sort out. I think that the school wanted to audition you to see in what performance class to put you in, and something about your credits for graduation. The Los Angeles Unified School District* has some different standards than York Prep, so you might be ahead or behind in some subjects."

"Right…" Maggie said nervously, that was a lot of things for her to do. She really wished there was someone she could talk to about this whole thing. She did not want to retake classes, or fall a year behind. She wanted to graduate as soon as possible so she could apply to Julliard and move back to New York. That had been her plan all along, stay in LA temporarily, go back to New York, hopefully convincing her parents to go back with her, get famous or die trying, and forget that she ever lived in LA. Yup it was fool proof.

Dinner went by without much more conversation, everyone was tired from a hard day of settling in, and they each went to bed looking forward to some much needed rest.

~oOo~

The next day Maggie finished unpacking what few boxes she had left and took her dad's advice, she went to the library.

At first Maggie was a little apprehensive about going out into the city that she did not know. She was more afraid of getting lost than of meeting up with some unfriendly people, she had lived in New York so her Aunt Shaw had decided that she and Edith take self-defense classes. After four months of classes Maggie felt pretty confident that she could defend herself long enough for the police to come to her aid. So with the directions from her dad, Maggie climbed onto her bike and set out.

The block she lived on was quiet and peaceful, there hardly seemed to be anyone there, there were a few cars parked in driveways and some on the street. It amazed Maggie that each house had its own lawn, her Aunt's house in the city didn't have a lawn, it was actually nice to see this. She made it to Robertson Blvd. and headed east, the direction her dad had said.

Maggie began walking down the street and groaned when she saw that the street was rather hilly. She knew that by the time she made it to the library she would be sweating, but she pedaled on nonetheless. Her only comfort was that on the way back she would be able to enjoy the thrill of riding her bike downhill.

On the way to the library she passed by a Baskin Robbins 31 Flavors, and made a mental note to tell her mom. She finally made it to the library and went inside after locking up her bike. This library had some nice stairs and Maggie couldn't wait to see more. She went inside and saw that it was rather small, the smile on her face fading slightly before she saw that there were at least twenty computers in the room.

"Hi, can I help you?" Maggie was startled by the person Maggie guessed to be the librarian. But the girl looked not much older than Maggie.

"Uh, yeah, can I use one of the computers?" Maggie asked.

"Sure, let me just see your library card so I can assign you one," the girl said as she smiled at Maggie.

"I don't have one," Maggie admitted.

"Oh, don't worry, they're free. Just fill out one of these and then I'll issue you one," the girl said as she handed Maggie a Los Angeles Public Library card application.

"Right," Maggie said as she took the application and the offered pen. She filled in the basic things, like her full name, age, date of birth, but when she got to her address she stopped. She must have looked confused because the librarian girl immediately asked her:

"Is everything alright?"

"Not really, I know this must sound weird, but I don't know my address yet," Maggie smiled a little embarrassed. She remembered having to learn her address in kindergarten, but this was a completely different address. She should have thought to write down her address, so that if she got lost then she could at least ask for directions.

"Oh, did you just move?"

"You could say that."

"Cool, where from?"

"New York."

"What!" the girl's eyes opened big. "You've got to be kidding me! That's on the other side of the country!"

"Don't I know it," Maggie mumbled, but she was cheered up when she saw that the girl was genuinely interested.

"Well I'm sure if I talk to Ms. Pince she can make an exception to let you use the computer, then when you find out your address you can come back and finish that application," the girl smiled and went to go find Ms. Pince. She returned shortly with an older lady in tow.

"So you are, Margaret Hale?" the Ms. Pince asked as she looked at Maggie's application.

"Yes," Maggie had always been intimidated by librarians, and she was especially intimidated by this one who had a resemblance to the librarian from Hogwarts. Librarians were not people to cross.

"You may use computer number 5, Beatrice here will show you where it is. You have half an hour. If you want to use the computer for an hour you have to make a reservation, but you can only do that after you have completed and been issued a library card," Ms. Pince said as she handed Maggie her unfinished application and Maggie nodded before following Beatrice.

"Computer number 5," Beatrice said, stopping before a computer.

"Thanks, my internet isn't being installed until next week and my cousin will die if she doesn't hear from me soon," Maggie smiled taking a seat. Beatrice sat next to her.

"No problem. By the way, my full name is Beatrice Maria-Alejandra Hernandez Higgins. But you can call me Bea," she laughed, earning herself a glare from Ms. Pince.

"Wow, that's a mouthful," Maggie laughed softly.

"I know, Hispanics have the tendency of giving their children ridiculously long names. Luckily most people only know me as Beatrice Higgins, or Bea. Only my dad calls me my full name, when he's mad, or if I get a C on my report card," Bea smiled, and Maggie was sure she had made a friend.

"Well I'm Margaret Hale, as you already know. But you can call me Maggie, or like my cousin likes to call me, Mags," Maggie said as she offered Bea her hand, which Bea eagerly shook.

"Mags, I think I'll stick with Maggie. So you're sixteen? Sorry, I couldn't help but look at your application, and no, I'm not a stalker," Bea joked.

"Yup, going into my junior year, you?"

"Fifteen, I don't turn sixteen until October, and I'm also going into my junior year."

"Better and better. So do you go to Alexander Hamilton High School Academy of Music?"

"Ha, yeah. We really just call it Hamilton though, the whole name gets pretty tedious. Plus there isn't just the Music Academy, they also have a Humanities magnet, Music Academy's arch nemesis, and the regular public school for the other not special kids who live in the area."

"Arch nemesis?"

"Yeah, its sort of an ongoing competition between the two magnets. We compete for the top ranks in the school, the smart people that is. Even the teachers are in on it, to see who can get better test scores. Humanities has had the luck these past few years of having someone from their magnet as valedictorian or salutatorian or both, but Music Academy usually manages to sneak in a few of our peeps into the top 10," Bea explained, she seemed really enthusiastic about it.

"Sounds like the Triwizard Tournament if you ask me," Maggie said, hoping that Bea would get the Harry Potter reference. She needn't have worried.

"It is in a way, Hogwarts is Music Academy, Durmstrang is Humanities, Beauxbatons is... oh well you get the picture. And I mean no one dies in the process but most of us are friends with each other, being in some of the same classes and all. Besides, it's amazing how people in Music Academy manage to get good grades when they have music performances and rehearsals on top of everything. Especially when the spring musical comes along, around the same time as AP tests, its really a wonder how they do it," Bea said.

"So what do you do in the Music Academy?"

"I play the violin. I recently got promoted to concertmaster, I'm super excited! I remember auditioning for String Symphony and Orchestra, I was so scared, that summer coming into ninth grade. And now here I am, after countless hours of practice, the head of the whole thing," Bea sighed, but she wasn't bragging about it.

"That's amazing!"

"Yeah, my dad is pretty proud of me, he promised me a new violin for my birthday, but that is if my ten week progress report is up to par. I'm actually scared, I'm taking AP English Language this year with the toughest English teacher the Music Academy has to offer. But enough about me, what will you be doing in the Music Academy? And don't say nothing, because I will have to kill you right here."

"Well I'm into drama and dance, so whatever performing group you have will suit me," Maggie said hoping it was a satisfactory answer. Bea looked like she would kill someone.

"Good. Maybe you could try out for the musicals, they are a lot of fun, I usually do pit orchestra for them," Bea relaxed and so did Maggie.

"I think I will. And why did you say you could kill me if I said nothing?" Maggie's curiosity got the better of her.

"Oh, its just that the system for determining who gets into the magnet is really stupid. It's like a random raffle, so as long as you apply, there's a chance that you can get in. It doesn't matter if you have talent or not, luckily most people who apply do have talent. But there are a few people who just don't do anything. It gets really annoying too, but whatever. It gives people in the LA area a chance to integrate, which makes Hamilton one of the most diverse schools in LA. Name a race and we got it, even if it's just one person, but still."**

"Oh, I can see what you mean. Back at York Prep, the school I used to go to, it didn't matter how smart you are, as long as your parents could pay the tuition you were good to go. One of my friends" Maggie though momentarily of Henry "was really smart too, but we had to have classes with really dumb guys."

"Tuition? Was it a private school?" Bea sounded amazed.

"Yeah, it was a private school," Maggie suddenly felt uncomfortable.

"Damn, you must be rolling in it huh?"

"No, it was actually my uncle who paid for my education. My dad used to teach math at our local community college, so there was no way he could have paid for it. That's why I moved in with my uncle and aunt and cousin when I was going to sixth grade."

"So you lived in New York City? The Big Apple?"

"While I went to school yes, but over the breaks I would go back home to Lakeside, a smaller more peaceful town near Lake Ontario, one of the Great Lakes that borders New York on the north."

"You had a lake, we have the beach," Bea commented.

"Yea. Speaking of the beach, I wouldn't mind going there right now; the heat is unbearable. I nearly died of heat stroke coming over here," Maggie joked.

"LA can get like that, but once the fires are over its pretty chill. But the fires give us an excuse of going to the beach where it is at least ten degrees cooler, and where we can check out the hot surfer dudes," Bea said dreamily.

"My friend Lexi would like you. She told me to send her some pictures of the first hot surfer I see. And to get a picture of Adam Levine sitting in his backyard," Maggie giggled.

"And I think I would like your friend Lexi. I can help you with that first task. With the second, I'm not so sure. I don't think I've ever seen a celebrity, and I've lived in LA all my life. My sister claimed she saw Britney Spears at The Grove***, but seeing as my sister wasn't wearing her glasses that day, I'm pretty sure she didn't."

"Time's up!" Ms. Pince came over to the two girls.

"Oh really?" Maggie was surprised. She had spent her time talking to Bea instead of using the computer, but she didn't regret it. At least now she knew someone in LA, bringing her total number to 2. John didn't count that much though, so maybe one and a half.

"Sorry about that," Bea apologized.

"That's okay. It was nice meeting you, I should head home now," Maggie said getting up from the computer she hadn't even touched.

"Where do you live, dumb question, which way do you live? Maybe I can walk with you."

"That way," Maggie pointed once she got her bearings.

"Me too! Let me just tell Ms. Pince I'll be going, I have spent way too much time here today," Maggie nodded and Bea went to say bye to Ms. Pince, who waved to the two girls before they headed out.

"I rode my bike here," Maggie said when they went outside.

"Me too!" Bea said.

Together they walked home, about a block before Bea turned left to her house, and Maggie continued straight home. People in LA were nice.

~oOo~

"Johnny, Johnny, Johnny!"

John groaned, and hid his head underneath the pillow when his sister came barging into his room.

"Eww, put some clothes on."

"You could knock you know, besides I'm wearing my boxers," John mumbled from beneath the pillow, his hand reaching for his watch on his bedside table.

"It's nine!"

"Yeah, but it's Saturday," John said, still not opening his eyes.

"Exactly, time is wasting! You said you would take me and Jessica to the promenade today."

"I never said that," John sat up in bed, looking at his sister. Little sisters were annoying, especially when they weren't so little anymore.

"Well mom says you have to," Francesca pouted, crossing her arms.

"Can't Phillip take you?" he let himself fall back into his pillow.

"I already asked, but he's driving mom today, besides, I want you to drive your BMW, the convertible one, where I can sit in the front passenger seat where people can see me instead of being shoved in the back of the Lincoln."

"I thought you liked the Lincoln."

"Yeah, but we are going to the beach. Have to make use of my last days of freedom!"

"I thought I was taking you to the promenade?" John said as he walked into his bathroom to take a shower.

"Wow, because the beach is so far away from the 3rd Street Promenade****. Seriously John, three blocks. Besides, I know that you're going surfing today."

"I hope you didn't tell anyone that."

"Oh don't worry, it's only all over MySpace now. And Facebook. And I'm pretty sure I tweeted it too," Cesca said before she skipped out of the room.

John sighed as the cool water ran over his body. He was still going to go surfing; only he knew that half of Cesca's friends were going to be attempting to surf today. Which would mean that it wouldn't be as relaxing as usual.

~oOo~

Ever since they had met at the library, the two girls acted as if they had known each other forever. They both enjoyed reading, and they could talk in Spanish, mainly on Bea's behalf, and get each other. They had hung out for the rest of the week and Bea had decided that she would show Maggie where she liked to hang out on the weekends, Venice Beach*****.

"So this is Santa Monica," Maggie said as she walked with Bea along the 3rd Street Promenade. She had a bag from PacSun in one hand, and some Jamba Juice in the other.

"Yup, famous city by the beach," Bea said as she sipped her own Mango-a-go-go.

"Can we go onto the beach?" Maggie asked eagerly.

"No duh, that's why I told you to wear your best bikini. Although I must admit, the water here is pretty nasty. It's nice to just lie on the beach though, listening to the waves and reading a book."

Maggie nodded and together they walked toward the beach.

~oOo~

"So around five we should meet up here again and head home," John said to his sister who already wasn't listening. The good thing was that Jessica had a mean crush on him and was hanging on to his every word.

"Yeah, whatever," Cesca said as she pulled Jessica toward the Forever 21, leaving John to stand in the middle of the Promenade.

He sighed before he rearranged the surfboard in his arms and headed towards the beach. He was going to meet a few of his so-called buddies there. Usually they just followed him around and tried to surf, but he was the best of them. He had been surfing for a while now, and he was pretty good at it. But surfing was what he did during the summer. Acting was what he did the whole year.

But of course, with his dad leaving him the whole business to run, he had to give it up eventually. Another three years and he would be in full possession of the company. Even with his eighteenth birthday on the horizon, he would gain a lot more responsibility. His mom would start to take him a long for meetings, preparing him to run the company that she, along with various other advisors, had been managing in his name. It was quite daunting.

Right now he was just enjoying his last moments as a kid. And enjoy it he would.

He peeled off his t-shirt and tossed it aside where he saw some of his friends had already put their stuff down. This was a regular spot of theirs, so he didn't worry about his shirt. He grabbed his surfboard and ran into the water, it wasn't the cleanest but at least there were some good waves to be had.

~oOo~

"Oh, there they are," Bea said as she and Maggie approached the shore. Bea pointed to a group of guys that were surfing, and even though they were far away Maggie could tell that they weren't much older than her.

"Do you know them?"

"Not really. They go to Hamilton, most of them are going to be seniors. And of course they are some of the hottest guys there."

"I see."

"So are you going to take a picture or what, I'm sure your friend will want to see these."

"I think I want to be selfish a little longer," Maggie smiled, staring at a particular guy who was riding the wave. He had really dark hair, and a great upper body, not to mention some nice legs.

"I would too, but there are way more girls here who are checking them out."

"Really?"

"Yeah, see over there, about half those girls are in Music Academy, they chase after these guys like there is no tomorrow. It's kind of funny to watch really, they are mostly in dance and choir and stuff like that. Most of the people who actually play instruments aren't that desperate."

"Nice."

"I wouldn't be surprised even one of the guys asked you out though."

"Why do you say that?"

"You're gorgeous, what do you mean?"

"Oh," Maggie blushed, she wasn't used to people telling her she was pretty, most of those compliments went to Edith. She picked up her digital camera and took a picture of all the guys who were riding the same wave, the dark haired guy in the front, the others in the back. Yes, Lexi would like these.

~oOo~

"So, Watson, looking forward to those college applications?" John asked his friend as they were coming out of the ocean, water dripping off both their bodies.

"Don't even remind me, my dad wants me to get into UCLA****** and I know that shit isn't going to happen," Bill Watson said as he stuck his surfboard in the sand.

"Bruin, eh? I think I want to be a Trojan instead, USC******* has a business school, plus they have that whole media thing going on, my mom wants me to go there," John said, he didn't mind USC, just that he wished he would have different major instead of business management and it's related things.

"And I'm sure USC also wants you to be a Trojan, with your brains. What are you, top 10?"

"I don't know yet, but that's what I'm aiming for."

"Nice, so where did you leave your sister today? And which one of her friends did she bring along this time?"

"She's at the Promenade with Jessica."

"I swear, your sister has a new best friend every week."

"They are hardly her friends, I think they pay her off because they think that I might ask one of them out."

"Damn, if I were you I would have been all over them too."

"No thanks, most of her friends are shallow girls interested in their appearances without half a brain. I want someone who can actually hold an interesting conversation, whose read books because they want to and not because they have to. Someone who is smart, and who goes after what they want in life. Of course it wouldn't hurt if they were pretty."

"Long term relationship, eh?"

"Yeah, I don't just want a fling, so I think I'll wait out for college, meet some smart girls," John said, but he couldn't help but think of Maggie.

"Damn John, I didn't think that you were the type to want to settle down so quickly."

"It's not that, I just want long term relationships, besides I don't think my mom thinks that there is anyone good enough for me. She thinks that they are all after my money, which most of them are."

"True that."

And with that they got their stuff together and headed for their own cars, oblivious of the girls who were watching them.

~oOo~

"And here is your new schedule, Margaret."

"Thanks again, Mr. Mattson," Margaret got up from her chair in the counselor's office.

"And if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to come into my office," Mr. Mattson smiled from behind his glasses.

"Yeah, bye," Maggie waved as she walked out of the office.

It was at least two weeks before school started and now Maggie had her class schedule. She walked down the hall to the main entrance, where the statue of Alexander Hamilton stood in the foyer. Maggie smiled as she walked out of the building. It was a nice building, way bigger than York Prep, and that was only the first building. She had managed to sneak a peak at the other buildings when she was taken to the auditorium to audition for the dance and drama teachers.

Maggie got home and immediately got onto her AIM. The internet had been installed that morning and she was anxious to talk to her cousin and friend.

**MagicalMags: Edith!**

**RediEdi: Mags! OMG, haven't heard from you in forever. Where have you been hiding?**

**MagicalMags: I just got the internet connected today. And I got my class schedule.**

**RediEdi: Excuses, excuses. So how is your new school? What classes are you taking?**

**MagicalMags: The school looks really pretty! And can you believe I have to take 7 classes?!**********

**RediEdi: What!**

**MagicalMags: I know, and school gets out until 4:20.**

**RediEdi: I feel sorry for you. I mean I'm only taking 4 classes, 14 credits total. And I have like 3 classes max a day.**

**MagicalMags: Lucky. But then two of those classes are dance and musical theatre, so I don't think it will be that bad.**

**RedEdi: What else are you taking?**

**MagicalMags: Well the good thing is a lot of my credits from York Prep transferred here and covered a lot of the graduation requirements for California. So I can graduate this year!**

**RediEdi: Lucky! **

**MagicalMags: So I have to take 2 English classes and a government class for the requirement. And I decided to continue with math, can you believe taking AP Calculus is an option here?**

**RedEdi: Really? I would have dropped it in a heartbeat. But that's only 6 classes.**

**MagicalMags: Of course I had to continue with Spanish, and my new friend here is half Hispanic, so she can help me with that.**

**RediEdi: Awesome, well I g2g. ttyl!**

**MagicalMags: Hugs!**

Maggie finished her conversation with her cousin just as she saw that Alexis had signed on.

**MagicalMags: Lexi!**

**LuckyLexi: OMG! Mags! I haven't talked to you in forever.**

**MagicalMags: Edith said the same thing.**

**LuckyLexi: Well duh, it's been like 2 weeks! SO…**

**MagicalMags: So what**

**LuckyLexi: How's LA?**

**MagicalMags: It's ok.**

**LuckyLexi: Just ok?**

**MagicalMags: I MISS LAKESIDE!!!**

**LuckyLexi: I see. So have you gotten me a picture of a hot surfer dude yet? I assume you've been to the beach.**

**MagicalMags: I almost forgot about that, but yes I've been to the beach and yes I've gotten you your picture.**

**LuckyLexi: Awesome, please send it to me now.**

**MagicalMags: Sure, check your email in a minute.**

Maggie had already uploaded her pictures from her camera onto her laptop so she just clicked through thumbnails of her pictures and sent the first three to Lexis.

**LuckyLexi: Got em!**

**MagicalMags: How do you like them?**

**LuckyLexi: OMG!!! These guys are hot, especially the one with the dark hair. **

**MagicalMags: I know right?**

**LuckyLexi: Did you check out the bod on the guy? Thank goodness for the zoom button. This guy has abs!**

**MagicalMags: I hadn't really zoomed in on them.**

**LuckyLexi: Well you should follow my example and do it now, because this guy is amazing. And his face isn't bad at all!**

**MagicalMags: Will do.**

Maggie opened her photos and clicked on the first one. The picture opened up and covered her whole screen; her digital camera took pretty good resolution pictures. She saw the abs and smiled, and she scrolled up and was met with none other than the face of John Thornton. Her eyes opened wide. Why was it that he kept coming into her life?

**LuckyLexi: You still there? Or are you drooling over the dark-haired-hottie?**

**MagicalMags: As if. I just realized that said dark-haired-hottie helped us move in.**

**LuckyLexi: What?! Why didn't you take a picture of him before, I know, you just wanted one of him with his shirt off.**

**MagicalMags: Right *****sarcastic tone***** I don't know what to think of him. Apparently his dad left him a business to run, so he's another one of those rich kids.**

**LuckyLexi: Well if I were you I would snag him the first chance I got. He can't possibly be single, probably has girls lined up to do it with him.**

**MagicalMags: I don't think I want to be talking of the love life of John Thornton right now.**

**LuckyLexi: You know you want to.**

**MagicalMags: I'll ttyl.**

**LuckyLexi: Oh c'mon, I was jk!**

**MagicalMags: Bye Lexi**

**LuckyLexi: Fine, just tell me when you start going out with him.**

Maggie rolled her eyes. Leave it to Lexi to imagine such a thing. She signed onto her Facebook and accepted Beatrice Higgins' friend request. Bea was right about not a lot of people knowing her by her first name. And from the looks of it, at 547 people knew Bea just as Beatrice Higgins. Hopefully at least half of those people were as cool as Bea and would be her friend.

**A/N: Please REVIEW!!!**

***This is real, more commonly known as the LAUSD, it runs public education for the LA area. They do a pretty bad job of it too, twelve years of public education and the schools never seemed to have enough money.**

****This is really the way they determine if you get into the magnet or not. It helps if you have a family member that is also in it though. It really sucks. I remember I was wait listed for 5 weeks, but I went to Hamilton any way because it was my home school. Then I got into the Music Academy and I don't know where I would have been if I hadn't.**

*****The Grove is a shopping center and they have a lot of expensive stores and restaurants there. Celebrities do visit this place. It's relatively new.**

******The 3rd Street Promenade is in Santa Monica and about three blocks from the beach. I go there almost every weekend, they have a lot of stores there and street performers too!**

*******Venice Beach is pretty cool. They have a pier and a fishing dock (fish are friends not food) and then they have the boardwalk. **

********University of California Los Angeles. School mascot: Bruins. A pretty difficult school to get into, and if I may brag, I got accepted there but I didn't want to go there. **

*********University of Southern California. School mascot: Trojans. It's a private university and also difficult to get into, and guess what? Yes I got into this school as well, but I'm not going there either! My older bro actually goes there, he's in the USC Marshall School of Business, the one John was talking about.**

**********For the Music Academy, seven classes are required instead of the usual six classes (although some seniors get away with only 6 sometimes, I didn't because my music class was my 7th class and the last class of the day). And because of the extra class (which is usually a music related elective) school ends at 4:20 instead of the usual 3:00. It kind of sucks because then it limits how much free time you have after-school, but I got used to it when I went there.**

**Enough explaining, please REVIEW! You know you want to! Hit that little green button, right there. Yes, just click and write me a nice little review!!!**


	6. Are You a Stalker?

West and East

(A modernized North and South)

**A/N: I do not own "North and South." Anything else you might recognize belongs to their respective owners!**

**Finally, an update! Sorry for keeping you all without a chapter in months, but I don't plan on doing that again! For those of you who have been with me from the start, welcome back. For those of you who have just joined us, welcome!**

**Chapter 6: Are You a Stalker?**

_Just tell me how I got this far_

_Just tell me why you're here and who you are_

_'Cause every time I look _

_You're never there _

_And every time I sleep _

_You're always there _

_'Cause you're everywhere to me _

_And when I close my eyes it's you I see _

_You're everything I know _

_That makes me believe _

_I'm not alone _

_I'm not alone_

_Everywhere _by Michelle Branch

"There are so many people!" Maggie stared around in amazement at the number of people crowding around the foyer.

"Yeah, but you better get out of the way unless you want to be—" Bea tried to warn her but suddenly Maggie felt someone bump into them. Maggie looked to see some tough Hispanic girl giving her a nasty look. Maggie hastily looked away.

"I won't even ask them to apologize," Maggie said, massaging her arm.

"Yup, now let's get out of here, the quad should be less crowded," Bea led the way, Maggie following close behind so that she didn't get lost. They walked through a second building where a couple of people were break-dancing in front of the trophy cases.

"Is that normal?" Maggie asked.

"Define normal," Bea smiled back at her, barely glancing at the break-dancers. "Expect a lot of randomness, especially from Music Academy peeps. If people randomly break out into song during class, just sit back and enjoy. If you're lucky, they'll have someone sing each part, it's amazing really." **(1)**

"Huh," Maggie raised her eyebrows as they made their way into the less crowded quad. "This is nice."

"It looks like that now, but just wait until after lunch, trash and seagulls everywhere," Bea said as she waved to someone.

"Who was that?" Maggie asked.

"Someone from orchestra," Bea made their way to a couple of benches where a group of people were already assembled. Many of them had instrument cases at their feet, backpacks piled around. Everyone seemed comfortable.

"Bea! Yo! How you been girl?" some guy brought Bea into a bear-hug. She high-fived a couple of the other people and hugged a few.

"How are you guys? Sorry we haven't been able to hang this past few days, but I was showing my friend Maggie here around," Bea said, nodding her head toward Maggie, who until now, had been standing nervously at the edge of the group.

The guy who had originally hugged Bea let out a low whistle, "Nice."

"Jackass, introduce yourself," Bea nudged him in the ribs.

"Sorry. Hey, I'm Ruben, and sorry, but you're really pretty. Like hot," he said, outstretching his hand for Maggie to shake.

"Maggie, and um, thanks," Maggie said coyly, as she proceeded to meet everyone else. There was Ruben, who was a senior, was the first chair trombone player in the highest jazz group and wind ensemble, and was liked all around. Then there were the Boucher twins, Kristen and Cassie, who played the viola and cello respectively in the orchestra, both juniors. And then there was their buddy, Joe Wesley, also a junior and a viola player. And then there was Melissa, Jackie, Aldo, Tanya, and some other people that Maggie couldn't quite remember.

After telling them all that she was from New York, and that she was a singer/dancer, (they were almost all instrument players, though a few sang on the side) the bell rang and Maggie headed off to her first class of the day with Bea.

~oOo~

"Dude, what's your first class?"

"Huh?" John was interrupted from his thoughts, which everyday seemed to increasingly go to Maggie. He hadn't seen her since he last helped her family move in. Yeah he had met Mr. Hale on other occasions, but he hadn't had the chance to see Maggie again.

"I said what's your first class?" Bill asked him again.

"Oh, um," John looked down at his class schedule. "AP Spanish."

"Sucks, I have AP Gov now, so I'll see you later," Bill walked off after giving John a pat on the back.

~oOo~

"First day and I'm already behind on the reading," Bea groaned as she looked at the book that they had been assigned for Spanish.

"Oh come on, it can't be that bad," Maggie said, carelessly flipping through their textbook filled with short stories.

They were both sitting near the back of the classroom, the teacher, Mrs. Leon having passed out syllabi and textbooks to everyone as they walked into class. A few stragglers were still arriving, so they had the first few minutes to themselves. Many were talking about their summers and catching up with old friends, but Bea was already counting the number of hours of sleep she would be getting.

Maggie was trying to cheer up Bea and didn't notice that a certain John Thornton had walked into the classroom. That is until he sat right behind her.

"Hi Maggie, fancy seeing you here," John said in his friendliest voice, and he flashed her his best smile. He couldn't believe his luck, she was actually in his class, for the whole year.

She turned to look at him, saying a mere, "Hi," before turning back to face the front of the class for the duration of the period. Bea, of course, talked to John a few minutes before looking suspiciously at her friend's inattentiveness to John and his attentiveness to Maggie. But she left it at that.

~oOo~

When Maggie heard John's greeting she had to control herself so that she wouldn't actually groan out loud. It was just her luck to get stuck with John Thornton in her class, she only hoped that it would be the only class they were sharing.

But it couldn't be that way. Nope, someone was punishing her for something she must have done, because when Maggie walked into her AP Government class, there sat John. She walked past his seat, pretending not to see him and sat as farthest away as she could.

Maggie did all she could to focus on what Ms. Goldman was saying during class, but she couldn't help but mentally curse the school system that had allowed her to take senior classes. But just because he was in her classes didn't mean that she had to talk to him, right?

~oOo~

Francesca Thornton had always been used to having her way. She also had the tendency of trying everything she possibly could; Her mother preferred to indulge her than listen to her beg, so she always had the equipment and lessons for whatever it was that she wanted to try out for that month. Francesca, or Cesca, also wanted to be the best at what she chose, and her current hobby, musical theater and dance.

But because she never stuck with anything for too long, it was usually difficult for her to be the best at anything. And when she noticed that there were other people who excelled at something she wanted, she did what the old saying says, 'If you can't beat them, join them.'

And that is how Maggie found herself being addressed by Cesca as they were changing out of their dance leotards and into their regular clothes.

"Hi, you're new here, right?"

Maggie looked up from tying her shoes and took in the make-upped face of Cesca, who was dressed in attire befitting someone going to a party than a teenager in high school. "Yes, I am."

Cesca smiled, revealing white teeth and extended a manicured hand for Maggie to shake, "I'm Francesca, but everyone calls me Cesca."

"Maggie," Maggie shook Cesca's hand, unsure of what to think.

"Sorry if this is weird, but I couldn't help but notice that you are a really good dancer. I mean, you could follow through Ms. Doug's routines without missing a step, that's pretty impressive."

"Um, thanks," Maggie said, glancing at her small watch on her hand, a gift from her Aunt the previous Christmas. She had little than ten minutes to get to her next class.

"Oh, sorry if I'm keeping you, but I hope that we can get to know each other much better. Bye!" and with that Cesca moved away. Maggie looked after her, not knowing what to make of the encounter and not the least bit aware that she had just met John's 'little' sister.

~oOo~

"So I'm sure most of you have already looked at limits in your previous class, so I just want you to take this quick quiz, just to asses where most of the class is and we can start from there. Now this won't be graded, so don't worry and just do your best," Mrs. O'Brien said as she went around the class handing everyone a quiz. "Ten minutes."

John looked at the paper in front of him, trying to remember something about limits, but the only thing that came to mind was 'The limit does not exist.' He inwardly cursed Cesca for obsessing with Mean Girls**(2)**, because now all he could think about was Lindsay Lohan and the 'mathletes.' He scribbled whatever he could and then stared at the girl who was sitting near the front of the classroom.

Her long brown curly hair was like a curtain, obscuring her face, but he could see that she was scribbling rapidly over the paper, like she knew what she was doing. Of course, how could Maggie Hale not be good at Calculus when her father taught that damn subject? John smiled to himself, maybe one day she would offer to tutor him? Then he almost laughed at loud when he recalled the tutoring scene from Mean Girls. He really needed to stop thinking about that movie.

He was still watching her and didn't notice they had to turn in their papers because at that exact moment, she turned to the person next to her and smiled her dimpled-smile. He found himself smiling right with her, that is until Bill waved a hand in front of his face.

"Dude, pass up your quiz."

"Huh? Oh sorry," John scrambled to pass up his paper, hastily scribbling his name onto it.

"What's up with you? And what's up with that dumb look on your face?"

"Nothing, it was no one," John said absent-mindedly.

"What, some chick finally catch your attention?" Bill looked in the direction that John had been staring at, but John punched his shoulder and they left things at that.

~oOo~

By the time Maggie arrived to her last class of the day, she was exhausted. She had just finished up her back-to-back English classes, and though they promised a heavy workload, she could tell that they would also be very interesting. Especially with Mrs. Fletcher's unreservedness at using an occasional curse word here and there, and most people had already taken a class taught by her and were returning for an encore.

Maggie entered the spacious auditorium and found people seated in clusters in the chairs. The auditorium was dimly lit, and coming in from the abundance of sunshine outside, Maggie was a little uncoordinated and took a seat in the front row.

"Everyone, settle down!" Ms. Zuckerman's voice echoed as everyone finished up their conversations and paid attention. "Alright, so as you all know, due to some budget cuts and everything else the State is trying to take from us right now, there will only be enough funding for one musical this year." **(3)**

Maggie looked around as there was a general groan coming from her fellow thespians.

"That of course means that there will be more competition for the leading roles, and any role in general, than you are accustomed to. Auditions will be held in one month, and until we choose our cast, you will all be on stage duty."

Another groan.

"Zuckerman, what musical are we doing?" a voice asked.

"Guys and Dolls, I thought we had established that last year," Ms. Zuckerman said, exasperation in her voice.

"Sorry."

"Okay, so there are audition pieces on the front desk here, as well as audition sign ups. Remember, just because you don't get the main role doesn't mean we don't need you, we can use as many dancers as we need."

Everyone scrambled to get a piece from the front desk, and Maggie slowly made her way to the front. She had seen the musical before, and she was really hoping that she could at least get a role where she had lines and not have to just dance.

~oOo~

"John, I really hope we can get to work together this year. I mean it's your last year here and I want to know that I got to work with one of the best," someone was saying as they clutched onto his arm.

"Uh, yeah, hopefully," John said, trying to politely release himself from her clutch, he felt bad for not remembering her name, Amy or some such name.

Seeing Maggie close to him, he took this opportunity to talk to her.

"So what role do you think you want to audition for?" he asked, standing close to her and looking at the roles she had in her hands.

"Oh, um, I'm not sure yet," she said, glancing up at him before returning her attention the pieces of music she held in her hands.

"Hmm, well you can always audition for multiple roles to see which one you can get. Of course, if you know you're that good then you can just try out for one," he said, smiling to himself. He knew what role he wanted, and he was determined to get it. Perhaps, if she was good enough, they would be able to work together. After all, she had managed to get into the most difficult performance group, most people had to work their way up into the class that was dedicated specifically to the musicals. And she had managed to get in, which was saying something.

"Yeah, maybe," Maggie grabbed her papers and returned to her seat. John watched her walk away, she was in a lot of his classes, and he was determined to get to know her better. She was unlike anyone he had met yet, and if this was just her exterior, he wondered what mysteries lay hidden beneath.

~oOo~

"So how was school?" her mother questioned her as soon as she dropped her bag next to the front door, her dad following close behind.

"Exhausting," Maggie plunked herself down on the nearest piece of furniture, closing her eyes and trying not to think of the fact that John was in almost half of her classes, almost like a stalker really. She would have pinned him as such if she hadn't known that they were assigned classes without prior knowledge of who would be in what was worse, he was determined to talk to her. Didn't he understand that she just wasn't interested? There were girls flocking around him, why didn't he just pick one of them? She knew that he was just trying to play the nice card, he was an actor after all, and it wouldn't work on her. She had known one too many rich snobs and she could do with fewer in her life.

"Come now Maggie, it wasn't all that bad. I know the schedule will get some taking used to, but I think all of my students were pretty well behaved for the first day," her father said as he patter her on the head.

"That doesn't take away from the fact that it was exhausting," Maggie opened her eyes, about ready to take a nap, but there were still many boxes that needed to be unpacked waiting for them in the small excuse for a garage.

"Well one thing is for certain, I can't stand the heat!" her mother was complaining from her spot on the couch, the fan turned on full blast in front of her face.

"Martha, it's getting dark out, maybe you can open a few windows and turn the fan off? We have to save energy."

"And let the bugs get in? I'm sure we can afford this, can't we?"

Maggie turned her head just in time to see her father faintly shake his head, the fan still on. She felt bad for her dad, her mom was just making the move a lot more difficult. Maybe she could have concealed the fact that school was a bore, if just for her mother's sake. She hoped that if she at least pretended to be happy, her mom would eventually warm up to the place, if only by a little.

**A/N: Please review! Your support and constructive is greatly appreciated! **

**Other Notes:**

**(1) I remember this happening in my Chemistry class. Sometimes it got annoying though.**

**(2) This movie is too funny. If you haven't seen it, watch it. A lot of times the limit doesn't exist because it goes to infinite, but sometimes it does!**

**(3) Our school, or should I say ex-school, usually does two musicals (one in the Fall, the other in Spring) and two dramas. I'm only doing this so it can fit with my story.**


End file.
